HANDBOOK OF THE
BIRDS
OF INDIA
AND PAKISTAN
IN TEN VOLUMES
VOL. 1
HANDBOOK OF THE
BIRDS
OF INDIA
AND PAKISTAN
TOGETHER WITH THOSE OF
NEPAL , SIKKIM , BHUTAN AND CEYLON
SALIM ALI
AND
S. DILLON RIPLEY
Volume 1
DIVERS TO HAWKS
Synopsis Nos. 1—224
Colour Plates 1-18
Sponsored by the
Bombay Natural History Society
OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS
Bombay London New York
Oxford University Press , Ely House, London WJ
GLASGOW NEW YORK TORONTO MELBOURNE WELLINGTON
QAPE TOWN SALISBURY IBADAN NAIROBI LUSAKA ADDIS ABABA
BOMBAY CALCUTTA MADRAS KARACHI LAHORE DACCA
KUALA LUMPUR HONO KONO TOKYO
Oxford House , Apollo Bunder , Bombay 1 BR
Oxford University Press, 1968
Sdlim ALI 1896
Sidney Dillon RIPLEY 1913
PRINTED IN INDIA BY PYARELAL SAH AT THE TIMES OF INDIA PRESS, BOMBAY
AND PUBLISHED BY JOHN BROWN, OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS, BOMBAY
CONTENTS
Systematic index v »
List of colour plates xin
Introduction xvii
General xxvii
Migration xxxiii
Zoogeography of the Indian Subregion xxxix
Physical map of the Indian Subregion, showing
distribution of climatic types between xlvi and xlvii
Systematics of Birds of the Indian Subregion xlix
Glossary of Terms for Physical Units lv
*
Terms used in the Description of a Bird lvii
Abbreviations Iviii
Descriptive text 1
References cited 371
Index 375
SYSTEMATIC INDEX
Order Gavuformes
Family gaviidae: Divers, Loons
1 Blackthroated Diver, Gavia arctica suschkini (Zarudny)
2 [Redthroaled Diver, Gavia stellate (Pontoppidan) J . .
Order Podicipediformks
Family podicipedidae: Grebes
3 Great Crested Grebe, Podiceps cristatus cristatus (Linnaeus)
4 Blacknecked Grebe, Podiceps nigricollis nigricollis Brehm
5 Little Grebe or Dabchick, Podiceps ruficollis capensis Salvador!
Order Prockllariiformes
Family procellariidae: Petrels, Shearwaters
6 Gape Petrel, Daption capensis (Linnaeus) . . . , . . , * 10
7 Whitefronted or Streaked Shearwater, Procellaria leucomelacm Tern*
minck . . . . . , . , . . . . . , . . 11
8 Pinkfooted Shearwater, Procellaria carneipes (Gould) . . - . . . 11
9 Wedgetailed Shearwater, Procellaria pacijica chlororhyncha (Lesson) . . 12
10 Slenderbilled or Short- tailed Shearwater, Procellaria tenuirostris Tem-
minek . . . . . , . . . . . . . . . . 13
1 1 Mauritius Shearwater, Procellaria Ihcrminitri bailloni Bonaparte . . 13
12 Persian Shearwater, Procellaria Iherminieri persica (Hume) . . . . 14
1 3 Mascarene Black Petrel, Bulweria aterrima (Bonaparte) . . . . 15
13a Jouanin’s Gadfly Petrel, Bulweria fallax Jouanin . . . . . - 15
J3b Bulwer’s Gadfly Petrel, Bulweria bulwerii (Jardine & Selby) . . . . 16
Family hydrobatidae: Storm Petrels
1 4 Wilson’s Storm Petrel, Oceanites oceanicus occanicus (Kuhl) . . . . 17
15 Dusky vented Storm Petrel, FregeUa tropica melanogaster (Gould) . . 20
16 Forktailed Storm Petrel, Occanodroma leucorhoa monorhis (Swinhoe) .. 21
Order Pelecaniformes
Family phaethontidae: Tropic-birds
1 7 Short-tailed Tropic-bird, Phaethon aeihereus indicus Hume , . . . 22
18 Redtailed Tropic-bird, Phaethon rubricauda rubricauda Boddacrt . . 24
19 White Tropic- bird, Phaethon Upturns Upturns Daudin .. .. 24
Family pelecanidae: Pelicans
20 White or Rosy Pelican, Pelecanus onocrolalus Linnaeus . . . . 27
21 Spoltcdbilled or Grey Pelican, Pelecanus philippen.su philippensis Gmclin 29
22 Dalmatian Pelican, Pelecanus philippensis crispus Bruch . . . . 30
Family sulioaei Boobies
23 Masked Booby, Snla dactylatra melanops Heuglin . . . . . . 32
24 Redfooted Booby, Sula sula rubripes Gould . , . . , . . . 33
25 Brown Booby, Sula leucogaster plotus (Forster) ♦ . . . . . . . 34
Family phalacrocoracidae: Cormorants and Darter
26 Large Cormorant, Phalacrocorax: carlo sinensis (Shaw) . . , . . . 37
27 Indian Shag, Phalacrocorax fuscicoUis Stephens . . . . . . . . 39
28 Little Cormorant, Phalacrocorax niger (Vieillot) . . . . . . 41
28a Pygmy Cormorant, Phalacrocorax pygmaeus (Pallas) 42
29 Darter or Snake-bird, Anhinga rufa melanogaster Pennant . . . . 43
Family fregatidae: Frigate Birds or Man-of-war Hawks
30 Christmas Island Frigate Bird, Frcgata andtewsi Mathews * . . . 47
31 Lesser Frigate Bird, Frcgata minor aldabremis Mathews . . . . 47
vn
cn id
SYSTEMATIC INDEX
viii
32 Least Frigate Bird, Fregaia oriel iredalei Mathews
Order Cicqniiformes
F amily ardeidae: Herons, Egrets, Bitterns
33 Great Whitebcliied Heron, Arrlea im ignis Hume
34 Giant Heron, Ardea goliath Cretzschmar
35 European Grey Heron, Ardea cinerea cinerea Linnaeus . . , ,
36 Eastern Grey Heron, Ardea cinerea rectirostris Gould . . < . , *
37 Eastern Purple Heron, Ardea purpurea manilensis Meyen
38 Little Green Heron, Butorides striatus chloriceps (Bonaparte)
39 Andaman Little Green Heron, Butorides striatus spodiogaster Sharpe . .
40 Paler Maldivian Green Heron, Butorides striatus didii Phillips & Sims
41 Darker Maldivian Green Heron, Butorides striatus albidulus Bangs . .
42 Indian Pond Heron or Paddybird, Ardeola grayii grayii (Sykes)
42a Maldivian Pond Heron, Ardeola grayii phillipsi Scheer
43 Chinese Pond Heron, Ardeola bacchus (Bonaparte)
44 Cattle Egret, Bubulcus ibis coromandus (Boddaert)
45 Large Egret or Great White Heron, Egretta alba alba (Linnaeus)
46 Eastern Large Egret, Egretta alba modesta (J. E. Gray)
47, 48 Smaller or Median Egret, Egretta intermedia intermedia (Wagler) , .
49 Little Egret, Egretta garzetta garzetta (Linnaeus)
50 Indian Reef Heron, Egretta gularis schistacea (Hemprich & Ehrenberg)
51 Eastern Reef Heron, Egretta sacra (Gmelin)
52 Night Heron, Nycticorax nycticorax nycticorax (Linnaeus)
53 Malay or Tiger Bittern, Gorsachius mdanolophus melarwlophus (Raffles)
54 Nicobar Tiger Bittern, Gorsachius melarwlophus minor Hachisuka
55 Little Bittern, Ixobrychus minutus minutus (Linnaeus)
56 Chestnut Bittern, ixobrychus cinnamomeus (Gmelin)
57 Yellow Bittern, Ixobrychus sinensis (Gmelin)
58 Black Bittern, Dupetor Jlavicollis flavicollis (Latham)
59 Bittern, Botaurus stellaris stellaris (Linnaeus)
Family ci co Nil dae: Storks
60 Painted Stork, Ibis leucocepkalus (Pennant)
61 Openbill Stork, Anastomus otcitans (Boddaert)
62 Whitenecked Stork, Ciconia episcopus episcopus (Boddaert)
63 White Stork, Ciconia ciconia ciconia (Linnaeus) . .
64 Eastern White Stork, Ciconia ciconia boyciana Swinhoe
65 Black Stork, Ciconia nigra (Linnaeus)
66 Blackneckcd Stork, Xenorhynchus asiaticus asiaticus (Latham)
67 Adjutant Stork, Leptoptilos dubins (Gmelin)
68 Lesser or Haircrested Adjutant, Leptoptilos javanicus (Horsfield)
Family thrkskiornithidae: Ibises, Spoonbill
69 White Ibis, Threskiornis melanocephala (Latham)
70 Indian Black Ibis, Pseudibis papillosa papillosa (Temminck)
71 Glossy Ibis, Plegadis falcinellus falcimllus (Linnaeus)
72 Spoonbill, Platalea leucorodia major Temminck & Schlegel
Family piioenicopteridae: Flamingos
73 Flamingo, Phoenicopterus roseus Pallas
74 Lesser Flamingo, Phoeniconaias minor (Geoffrey)
Order Anseriformes
F amily anatidae: Ducks, Geese, Swans
75 Redbreasted Goose, Brania ruficollis (Pallas)
76 Forest Bean Goose, Anser fabalis middendorffi Sevcrtzov
77 Tundra Bean Goose, Anser fabalis rossiens Buturlin
78 [Pinklbotcd Goose, Anser fabalis brachyrhynchus Baillon]
79 Whitefronted Goose, Anser albifrons albifrons (Scopoli)
80 Lesser Whitefronted or Dwarf Goose, Anser erythropus (Linnaeus) . .
81 Eastern Greylag Goose, Anser anser rubrirostris Swinhoe . ,
49
53
53
54
55
57
59
61
62
62
63
65
65
66
68
69
71
72
74
77
78
80
82
83
84
86
88
89
93
95
98
99
102
102
104
105
107
110
112
114
116
118
121
124
125
125
126
126
128
129
SYSTEMATIC INDEX ix
82 Barheaded Goose, Anser indicus (Latham) . . . , .. . . 131
83 [Lesser Snow Goose, Anser caerulescms caerulescens (Linnaeus)] . . 133
84 Bewick’s or Western Whistling Swan, Cygnus columbiams bewickii
Yarrell . . .. .. .. . . , . .. . . 134
85 Jankowski’s or Eastern Whistling Swan, Cygnus colwnbianus jankowskii
Alph^raky . . . , . . . . 135
86 Whooper Swan, Cygnus cygnus (Linnaeus) . . . . . . . . 136
87 Mute Swan, Cygnus olor (Gmelin) .. .. .. . , .. 137
88 Lesser Whistling Teal or Tree Duck, Dendrocygna jamniea (Horsfield) 138
89 Large Whistling Teal, Dmdrocygna bicolor (Vieillot) . . . . . . 139
90 Ruddy Shelduck or Brahminy Duck, Tadoma ferruginea (Pallas) . . 141
91 Common Shelduck, Tadoma tadoma (Linnaeus) . . . . . . 144
92 Marbled Teal, Anas angustirostris Menetries , . . . . . . . 147
93 Pintail, Anas acuta Linnaeus . . . . . . . . * . ~ . . 149
94 Common Teal, Anas crecca crecca Linnaeus . . . . . . . , 151
95 Baikal, Clucking or ‘Formosa’ Teal, Anasformosa Georgi . . . . 154
96 Grey, Andaman or Oceanic Teal, Anas gibberifrons albogularis
(Hume) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
97 Spotbill Duck, Anas poecilorhyncha poecilorhyncha J. R. Forster . . 157
98 Burmese Spotbill Duck, Anas poecilorhyncha haringtoni (Oates) . . 159
99 Eastern Grey Duck, Anas poecilorhyncha zonorhyncha Swinhoe . . . . 159
100 Mallard, Anas platyrhynchos Linnaeus . . . . . . . . . , 160
101 Gadwali, Anas strepera strepera Linnaeus . . . . . . . . 163
102 Falcated or Bronzecapped Teal, Anas falcata Georgi . . . . . . 165
103 Wigeon, Anas penelope Linnaeus . . . . . , . . . . 167
104 Garganey or Bluewinged Teal, Anas querquedula Linnaeus . . . . 169
105 Shoveller, Anas clypeata Linnaeus . . . . . . . . 172
106 Pinkheaded Duck, Rhodonessa caryophyllacea (Latham) .. 175
107 Redcrested Pochard, Netta ritjina (Pallas) .. .. . . . . 177
108 Common Pochard, Aythya ferina (Linnaeus) . . . , . . . . 180
109 White-eyed Pochard or Ferruginous Duck, Aythya nyroca
(Giildenstadt) 182
110 Baer’s Pochard or Eastern White-eye, Aythya baeri (Radde) . , . . 184
111 Tufted Duck, Aythya fuligula (Linnaeus) . . . . . . . , 185
112 Scaup Duck, Aythya marila marila (Linnaeus) . . . . . , . . 187
113 Mandarin Duck, Aix galcriculata (Linnaeus) .. . . .. .. 189
114 Cotton Teal or Quacky-duck, Nettapus coromandelianus coromandelianus
(Gmelin) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190
115 Nakta or Comb Duck, Sarkidiornis melanotos melanotos (Pennant) . . 192
116 Whitewinged Wood Duck, Cairina scutulata (S. Muller) . . . . 194
117 Longtail Duck or Old Squaw, Clangula hyemalis (Linnaeus) . . . . 196
118 Goldeneye Duck, Bucephala clangula clangula (Linnaeus) .. .. 198
119 Smew, Mergus albellus Linnaeus .. .. .. .. 201
120 Goosander or Common Merganser, Mergus merganser merganser
Linnaeus 203
121 Eastern Merganser, Mergus merganser orientalis Gould . . . . 204
122 Red breasted Merganser, Mergus senator serrator Linnaeus . . . . 206
123 Whitcheaded Stifftailed Duck, Oxyura leucocephala (Scopoii) . * . , 208
Order Falconii-ormes
F amily acgipitrio ae: Hawks, Vultures, etc.
124 Blackwinged Kite, Elanus caeruleus vociferus (Latham) . * . . 212
125 Blyth’s Baza or Northern Brown Lizard Hawk, Aviceda jerdoni jerdoni
(Blyth) 215
126 Legge’s Baza or Southern Brown Lizard Hawk, Aviceda jerdoni ceylonensis
(Legge) 216
127 Indian Blackcrestcd Baza or Lizard Hawk, Aviceda leuphotes leuphotes
(Dumont) .. .. .. .. .. .. 218
128 Burmese Blackcrestcd Baza or Lizard Hawk, Aviceda leuphotes syama
(Hodgson) . . . . . . . . . . . . « . . . 220
X
SYSTEMATIC INDEX
129 Siberian Honey Buzzard, Pemis ptilorhynchus orientalis Taczanowski . * 221
130 Crested Honey Buzzard, Pemis ptilorhynchus ruficollis Lesson . . . . 22 2
131 European or Red Kite, Milvus mUvus rnilvus (Linnaeus) . . . . 225
132 Black Kite, Milvus migrans migrant (Boddacrt) , . . * . . 226
133 Pariah Kite, Milvus migrans govinda Sykes 227
134 Blackeared or Large Indian Kite, Milvus ( migrans ) lineatus (Gray) . . 229
135 Brahminy Kite, JIaliastur indus indus (Boddaert) . . . . . . 230
136 Eastern Goshawk, Accipiter gentilis schvedowi (Menzbier) .. « . 233
137 Central Asian Shikra, Accipiter badius cenchroides (Scvertzov) . . . . 235
138 Indian Shikra, Accipiter badius dussumt’eri (Temminck) . . . . 235
1 39 Ceylon Shikra, Accipiter badius badius (Gmelin) . . . . . . 237
140 Burmese Shikra, Accipiter badius poliopsis (Hume) . . , . . . 237
141 Car Nicobar Shikra, Accipiter badius butleri (Gurney) . . , . . . 238
142 KatchaT Shikra, Accipiter badius obsoktus (Richmond) . . . . 239
143 Horsficld’s or Chinese Goshawk, Accipiter soloensis (Horsfield) . . 239
144 North Indian Crested Goshawk, Accipiter trivirgatus indietis (Hodgson) 240
145 South Indian Crested Goshawk, Accipiter trivirgatus peninsulae Koelz, * 242
146 Ceylon Crested Goshawk, Accipiter trivirgatus layardi (Whistler &
Kinnear) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 242
147 Asiatic Sparrow-Hawk, Accipiter nisus nisosimilis (Tickell) . . . . 243
148 Indian Sparrow-Hawk, Accipiter nisus melaschistos Hume . , . . 245
149 West Himalayan Besra Sparrow-Hawk, Accipiter virgatus kashmiriensis
Whistler & Kinnear . . . . . . . . . . . . 246
150 East Himalayan Besra Sparrow-Hawk, Accipiter virgatus affmis
Hodgson . . . . . , . . . . . . . . 247
151 Southern Besra Sparrow-Hawk, Accipiter virgatus besra Jerdon . . 249
152 Eastern Sparrow-Hawk, Accipiter virgatus gularis (Temminck &
Schlcgel) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 250
153 Longlegged Buzzard, Buteo rufinus rufinus (Cretzschmar) . . . . 252
154 Upland Buzzard, Buteo hemilasius Temminck & Schlegel . . . . 253
155 Desert Buzzard, Buteo vulpitius vulpinus (Gloger) . , . . . . 254
1 56 Buzzard, Buteo buteo burmanicus Hume . . . . 255
157 White-eyed Buzzard-Eagle, Butastur teesa (Franklin) . . . . 257
158 Hodgson’s or Feathertoed Hawk-Eagle, Spizaetus mpalensis nipalensis
(Hodgson) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . , . 259
159 Legge’s or Ceylon Feathertoed Hawk-Eagle, Spizaetus nipalensis kelaarti
Legge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 260
160 Changeable Hawk-Eagle, Spizaetus ( cirrhatus ) limnaectus (Horsfield) 261
161 Indian Crested Hawk-Eagle, Spizaetus cirrhatus cirrhatus (Gmelin) . . 262
162 Andamans Crested Hawk-Eagle, Spizaetus cirrhatus andamanensis
Tyller . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265
163 Bonelli’s or Slender Hawk-Eagle, Hieraaetusfasciatus fasciatus (Vieillot) 266
164 Booted Hawk-Eagle, Hkraaetus pennatus (Gmelin) . . . . . . 268
1G5 Rufousbellied Hawk-Eagle, Lophotriochis kienerii kienerii (E. GeofTroy) 270
166 Himalayan Golden Eagle, Aqtiila chrysaetos daphanea Scvertzov . . 273
167 Imperial Eagle, Aquila heliaca heliaca Savigny . . . . . . 274
168 Tawny Eagle, Aquila rapax vindhiana Franklin . . . , . , 276
169 Eastern Steppe Eagle, Aquila nipalensis nipalensis (Hodgson) .. 278
170 Greater Spotted Eagle, Aquila clanga Pallas . . . . . . . . 279
171 Lesser Spotted Eagle, Aquila pomarina hastata (Lesson) . . . , 281
172 Black Eagle, Ictinaelus malayensis perniger (Hodgson) .. .. .. 283
172a Whitetailed Sea Eagle, Haliaeetus albieilla (Linnaeus). . . . , , 286
173 Whitebellied Sea Eagle, Haliaeetus leucogaster (Gmelin) . . . . 287
1 74 Ringtailed or Pallas’s Fishing Eagle, Haliaeetus leucoryphus (Pallas) . . 289
175 Greyheaded Fishing Eagle, Icthyophaga irhthyaetus ichthyaelus (Horsfield) 292
176 Ceylon Greyheaded Fishing Eagle, Icthyophaga ichthyaetus plumheiceps
Baker . . , . . . . , . . . . . . . . 294
177 Himalayan Greyheaded Fishing Eagle, Icthyophaga nana plumbea
(Jerdon) 294
178 Black or King Vulture, Torgos calvus (Scopoli) . . . . . . 296
SYSTEMATIC INDEX
XI
179 Cinereous Vulture, Aegypius monachus (Linnaeus) 298
180 Indian Griffon Vulture, Gyps fulvus fulvescens Hume 301
181 Himalayan Griffon Vulture, Gyps himalayensis Hume . * . . 302
182 Indian Longbillcd Vulture, Gyps indicus indicus (Scopoli) . . . ♦ 304
183 West Pakistan Langbilled Vulture, Gyps indicus jonesi Whistler , . 305
184 Himalayan Longbilled Vulture, Gyps indicus tenuirostris G. R. Gray 306
185 Indian Whitebackcd Vulture, Gyps bengalensis (Gmelin) . . . * 307
186 Egyptian Vulture, Neophron percnopterus percnopterus (Linnaeus) 310
187 Indian Scavenger Vulture, Neophron percnopterus ginginianus (Latham) 312
188 Himalayan Bearded Vulture or Liimmcrgeier, Gypaetus barbatus
aureus (Hablizl) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 314
189 Hen Harrier, Circus cyaneus cyaneus (Linnaeus) . . , * . , 317
190 Pale Harrier, Circus macrourus (S. G. Gmelin) 319
191 Montagu's Harrier, Circus pygargus (Linnaeus) 321
192 Pied Harrier, Circus melanoleucos (Pennant) 323
193 Marsh Harrier, Circus aeruginosus aeruginosus (Linnaeus) . . . . 324
194 Eastern Marsh Harrier or Striped Harrier, Circus aeruginosus spilonotus
Kaup . , . . . . . . . . . . . . 326
195 Short-toed Eagle, Circaetus gallicus gallicus (Gmelin) . , . . 327
196 Crested Serpent Eagle, Spilomis cheela cheela (Latham) . . 329
197 Lesser or Peninsular Crested Serpent Eagle, Spilomis cheela melanotis
(Jcrdon) 331
198 Ceylon Crested Serpent Eagle, Spilomis cheela spilogaster (Blyth) . . 332
199 Burmese Crested Serpent Eagle, Spilomis cheela burmanicus Swann . . 333
200 Andaman Crested Serpent Eagle, Spilomis cheela elgini (Blyth) . . 333
201 Nicobar ("rested Serpent Eagle, Spilomis cheela minimus Hume . . 334
202 Great Nicobar Crested Serpent Eagle, Spilomis cheela klossi Richmond 335
203 Osprey, Pandwn haliaetus haliaetus (Linnaeus) . . . . . . . . 336
Family falconidak: Falcons
204 Himalayan Redbreasted Falconet, Microhierax caerulescens caerulescens
(Linnaeus) . . , . . . . . . , , . . , . . 338
205 Whitelegged Falconet or Pied Pigmy Falcon, Microhierax
melanoleucos (Blyth) . . . . . , . . . . . . 340
206 Suker or Cherrug Falcon, Falco biarmiius cherrug J. E. Gray . . 342
207 Shanghai' Falcon, Falco biarmicus milvipes Jerdon . . . . . . 344
208 Laggar Falcon, Falco biarmicus jugger J. E. Gray .. .. .. 344
209 Eastern Peregrine Falcon, Falco peregrinus japonensis Gmelin . . 347
210 Redcappcd or Barbary Falcon, Falco peregrinus babylonicus P. L.
Sclaler . . . . . . . . . . . . . * . . 349
211 Shahcen Falcon, Falco peregrinus peregrinator Sundevall . . * . 350
212 Hobby, Falco subbuteo subhuteo Linnaeus . . . . . . , . 352
213 Central Asian Hobby, Falco subbuteo centralasiae (Buturlin) . . . . 353
214 Indian Hobby, Falco sevems rujipedoidcs Hodgson 355
215 Burmese Hobby, Falco severus severus Horsfidd 356
216 Sooty Falcon, Falco concolor Temminck . , . , . . . . 356
217 North Asiatic Merlin, Falco columbarius insigni i (Clark) .. .. 357
218 Pallid Merlin, Falco columbarius christiamludovici Kleinschmidt . . 358
219 Redheaded Merlin, Falco chicquera chicquera Daudin 359
220 Eastern Rcdlegged Falcon, Falco vespertinus amurensis Raddc . . 361
221 Chinese Lesser Kestrel, Falco naumanni pekimnsis Swinhoc . . . , 363
222 European Kestrel, Falco tinnunculus tinnunculus Linnaeus . . . . 365
223 East Himalayan Kestrel, Falco tinnunculus interstinctus McClelland . . 367
224 Indian Kestrel, Falco tinnunculus objurgatus (Baker) . . . f . . 368
COLOUR PLATES
Synopsis numbers in brackets
(SE) «■ species extralimital (RE) ^race extralimital
Plate 1 9 facing page 16
A. M. HUGHES
1 Anas penebpe, Wigeon (103)
2 Anas strepera strepera, Gadwall (101)
3 Anas crecca crecca, Common Teal (94)
4 Anas acuta , Pintail (93)
5 Anas querquedula , Garganey (104)
6 Anas clypeata, Shoveller (105)
7 Aythya fuligula, Tufted Duck (111)
8 Aythya nyroca, White-eyed Pochard (109)
9 Podiceps cristatus crista tus, Great Crested Grebe (3)
10 Podiceps rujicollis capcnsis , Little Grebe (5)
Plate 2, facing page 32
A. M. HUGHES
1 Pelecanus philippensis philippensis , Spottedbilled Pelican (21)
2 Phalacrocorax niger, Little Cormorant (28)
3 Phalacrocorax carbo sinensis , Large Cormoranf*(26)
4 Ibis leucocephalusy Painted Stork (60)
5 Threskiomis melanocephala, White Ibis (69)
6 Anhinga rufa rnclatiogaster , Darter (29)
7 Anastomus oscitans , Openbill Stork (61)
8 Ciconia episcopus episcopus , Whitenecked Stork (62)
9 Leptoptibs dubius, Adjutant Stork (67)
10 Xetiorhynchus asiaticus asiaticus , Blacknecked Stork (66)
Plate 3, facing page 48
A. M. HUGHES
1 Ardea cinerea rectirostris, Grey Heron (36)
2 Egretta alba modes ta, Large Egret (46)
3 Egretta garzetta garzetta , Little Egret (49)
4 Ardea purpurea manilensis , Purple Heron (37)
5 Ardeola grayii grayii , Pond Heron or Paddybird (42)
6 Butorides striatus (connectens) , Little Green Heron (38 RE)
7 Bubulcus ibis coromandus , Cattle Egret (44)
8 Dupetor fiavicollis flavicollis , Black Bittern (58)
9 Jxobrychus cinnamomeus , Chestnut Bittern (56)
10 Nycticorax nycticorax nycticorax , Night Heron (52)
Plate 4, facing page 64
A. Mi HUGHES
1 Sarkidiornis melanotos melanotos, Nakta (115)
2 Cairina scutulata , Whitewinged Wood Duck (116)
3 Nettapus coromandelianus coromandelianus, Cotton Teal (114)
4 Anser anser rubrirostris , Greylag Goose (8 1 )
5 Dendrocygna javanica 9 Lesser Whistling Teal (88)
6 Anser indicus, Barheaded Goose (82)
7 Tadoma fmuginea, Brahrniny Duck (90)
8 Dendrocygna bicolor, Large Whistling Teal (89)
9 Anas platyrhynchos, Mallard (100)
10 Anas poecilorhyncha haring tom, Spotbill Dhdk (98)
xiii
XIV
COLOUR PLATES
Plate 5, facing page 96
g, j. F. COOMBS
1 Phaethon rubricauda rubricauda. Red tailed Tropic-bird (18)
2 Ardea insignis, Or cat Whitebcllied Heron (33)
3 Egret ta gula? is schistacea , Indian Reef Heron (50)
4 Botaurus ste Haris s tel laris, Bittern (59)
5 Ardea goliath , Giant Heron (34)
6 Pseudibis papillosa papillosa. Black Ibis (70)
7 Plegadis falcinellus fatcinellus , Glossy Ibis (71)
8 Platalea leucorodia major , Spoonbill (72)
9 Ixobrychus sinensis , Yellow Bittern (57)
10 Ixobryckus minutus , Little Bittern (55)
Plate 6, facing page 112
G- J. F. COOMBS
1 Pelecantts onocrotalus , Rosy Pelican (20)
2 Ciconia ciconia ciconia , White Stork (63)
3 Ciconia nigra , Black Stork (65)
4 Phoenicopterus roscus. Flamingo (73)
5 Phoenicanaias minor , Lesser Flamingo (74)
6 Gypaetus barbatus aureus, Bearded Vulture (188)
7 Gyps himalayensis , Himalayan Griffon (181)
8 Neophron perenopterus ging ini anus. Scavenger Vulture (187)
9 Pavo eristatusy Common Peafowl (311)
Plate 7, facing page 144
L>. V. COWEN
1 Gorsachius melanolophus melanolophus , Malay Bittern (53)
2 Dupetor Jlavicollis flavicollis , Black Bittern (58)
3 Dendrocygna javanica, Lesser Whistling "l eal (88)
4 Porphyrio porphyrio polioccphalus , Purple Moorhen (349)
5 Scolopax rusticola rust [cola, Woodcock (411)
6 Galloper dix spadicca steivarti , Red Spurfowl (277)
Plate 8, facing page 160
O. J. F. COOMBS
1 Ansei fabalis bra( hyrhynchus , Pinkfooted Goose (SE)
2 Anser albifrons albifrons , Whitefronted Goose (79)
3 Gy gnus colurnbianus jankowskii , Whistling Swan (85)
4 j'adoma tadorna. Common Shelduck (91)
5 Anas angustirostris. Marbled Teal (92)
6 Anas forma sa, Baikal Teal (95)
7 Anas gibberifrons albogulans , Grey Teal (96)
8 Anasjalcala t Falcated Teal (102)
Plate 9, facing page 176
DENNIS F. IIARI.B
1 Rhodonessa caryophyllacea , Pinkheaded Duck (106)
2 Netta rufina , Redcrested Pochard (107)
3 Aix galericulala , Mandarin Hack (113)
4 Aythya marila rnarila , Scaup Duck (112)
5 Clangula hy emails. Long tail or Old Squaw Duck (117)
6 Bueephala clangula clangula. Goldeneye Duck (118)
7 Afergus albellus. Smew (119)
8 Mergus serrator serralnr. Red breasted Merganser (122)
9 Oxyura leucocephala , Whiteheaded Stifftailed Duck (123)
COLOUR PLATES
Plate 10, facing page 192
G. M. HENRY
1 Accipiter gentilis schoedowi, Goshawk (136)
2 Accipiter nisus melaschistos , Indian Sparrow-Hawk (148)
3 Accipiter virgatus besra, Bcsra Sparrow-Hawk (151)
4 Milous tnilvus milvus, Red Kite (131)
5 Hieraaetus pmnatus , Booted Hawk-Eagle (164)
6 Pernis ptilorhyncus rqficollis, Crested Honey Buzzard (130)
7 Buleo nfinus rqfinus, Longlegged Buzzard (153)
8 Buteo buteo bwrmanicus , Buzzard (156)
9 Buteo hmilasius , Upland Buzzard ( 1 54)
10 Circus macrourus , Pale Harrier (190)
11 Circus aeruginosus aeruginosus , Marsh Harrier (193)
Plate 11 9 facing page 208
A. M. HUGHES
1 Bulastur teesa , White-eyed Buzzard-Eagle (157)
2 Butastur liventer, Rufouswinged Buzzard-Eagle (SE)
3 Icthyophaga nma plumbea, Himalayan Greyheaded Fishing Eagle (177)
4 Haliaeetus leucoiyphus , Pallas’s Fishing Eagle (174)
5 Milvus migrant govinda, Pariah Kite (133)
6 Haliastur indus Indus, Brahminy Kite (135)
7 Elanus caemleus vocifmis , Blackwinged Kite (124)
8 Accipiter badius poliopsis , Shikra (140)
9 Aviceda leuphotes leuphotes , Indian Blackcrcsted Baza (127)
10 Circus melanoleucos , Pied Harrier (192)
Plate 12 9 facing page 224
* A. M» HUGHES
1 Pandion haliaetus haliaetus , Osprey (203)
2 Accipiter trivirgatus indicus , Crested Goshawk (144)
3 Falco peregrinus peregrinate, Shahecn Falcon (211)
4 Microhierax caerulescens ( bwrmanicus ), Red breasted Falconet (204 RE)
5 Falco tinnunculus inter stinctus, Kestrel (223)
6 Spilotnis ckeela burrnanicus , Crested Serpent Eagle (199)
7 Lophotriorchis kienerii kienerii, Rufousbellied Hawk-Eagle (165)
Plate 13 1 facing page 240
d. v. COWEN
1 Ninox scutulata hirsuta, Brown Hawk-Owl (644)
2 Falco peregrinus peregrinator , Shahcen Falcon (211)
3 Aviceda jerdoni ceylonensis, Legge’s Baza (126)
4 Glaucidium radiatum malabaricum , Jungle Owlet (637)
5 Aviceda leuphotes leuphotes, Indian Blackcrested Baza (127)
6 Falco severus rufipedoides, Indian Hobby (214)
Plate 14, facing page 256
G« M, HENRY
1 Spizaetus {cirrhatus) limnaeetus , Changeable Hawk-Eagle (160)
2 Haliaeetus leucogaster , Whitebellicd Sea Eagle (173)
3 Spizaetus nipalensis nipalensis , Hodgson’s Hawk- Eagle (158)
4 Circaetus gallicus gallicus, Short- toed Eagle (195)
5 Aquila nipalensis nipalensis , Steppe Eagle (169)
6 Aquila clanga , Greater Spotted Eagle ( 1 70)
7 Aquila thrysaetos daphanea , Golden Eagle (166)
$ Aquila heliaca. Imperial Eagle (167)
xyi
COLOUR PLATES
Plate 15* facing page 272
D« V, CO WEN
1 Lophotriorchis kienerii kienerii, Rufousbellied Hawk-Eagle (165)
2 Spilomis cheela melanotis , Crested Serpent Eagle (197)
3 Bubo nipalensis, nipalensis , Forest Eagle-Owl (628)
4 Spizaetus cirrhatus cirrhatus , Crested Hawk-Eagle (161)
5 Icthyophaga ichthyaetus ichthyaetus , Greyheaded Fishing Eagle (175)
Plate 16,/acwjg
A. M. HUGHES
1 Buceros bicomis homrai , Great Pied Hombill (776)
2 Torgos calvus. Black Vulture (178)
3 Gyps indicus tenuirostris , Longbilled Vulture (184)
4 GVwj antigme sharpii , Sarus Crane (324)
5 Paw muticus spicifer, Burmese Peafowl (312)
6 Gyps bengalensis, Indian Whitebacked Vulture (185)
7 Argusianus argus , Argus Pheasant (SE)
Plate 17 1 facing page 320
PAUL BARRUKL
1 Phodilus badius saturates. Bay Owl (609)
2 Bubo nipalensis nipalensis , Forest Eagle-Owl (628)
3 Otus backkamoena lettia, Collard Scops Owl (623)
4 Glaucidium brodiei brodiei, Collared Pigmy Owlet (635)
5 Hieraactus Jasciatus fasciatus , Bonclli’s Hawk-Eagle (163)
6 Iciinaetus malayensis pemiger , Black Eagle (172)
7 Aficrohierax caerulcsccns , Redbreasted Falconet (204)
Plate IS, facing page 336
G. M. HENRY
1 Falco subbuteo centralasiae , Hobby (213)
2 Microhierax mdanoleucos , Whitelegged Falconet (205)
3 Falco vespertmus amurensis , Redlegged Falcon (220)
4 Fa/w chicquera chiquera , Redheaded Merlin (2 1 9)
5 Fa/w biarmicus jugger, Laggar Falcon (208)
6 Fa/co columbarius insignis, Merlin (217)
7 Fafco naumanni pekinensis , Lesser Kestrel (221)
ADDENDA
Three references to coloured plates have been omitted:
The White Pelican ( Pdecanus onocrotalus , No. 20) is
illustrated in Plate 6, fig. 1, facing page 112 ; the WhiLc-
eyed Pochard {Aythya nytoca , No. 109) in Plate J, fig. 8,
facing page 1 6 ; and there is a second illustration of the
Shahecn Falcon {Falco p. peregrinator , No. 211) in Plate
12, fig. 3, facing page 224.
INTRODUCTION
Good historical accounts of ornithology and ornithologists in India,
chiefly since the beginning of the nineteenth century, and the more
important contributions to the science up to the publication of the
last volume of Stuart Baker in 1930 are chronicled progressively in the
introductory portions of all the standard books on Indian ornithology
of that period — Jerdon’s Birds of India , and the two editions of the
Fauna of British India series on Birds. They call for no more than a
brief reference here. The first six decades of the nineteenth century,
up till the publication of the former in 1862, were dominated by the
virtual founders of Indian ornithology, T. C. Jerdon, Brian Hodgson
and Edward Blyth; but this pioneering period was marked also by a
number of other active field workers among whom deserving mention
are Adams, Franklin, Hutton, McClelland, Sykes, Tickell, and Tytler
in India, and Kelaart and Layard in Ceylon. Birds of India epitomizes
the knowledge up to that date, based on the vast collections of Hodgson
(chiefly from Nepal), and of Blyth and Jerdon themselves and their
many prot6g& and correspondents, including the above named, in
various parts of the Indian Peninsula. ‘ Jerdon ’ contains some excellent
field notes on habits and ecology which is a refreshing feature for a
period when the main accent was, understandably, on amassing
large numbers of skins — often through the help of local shikaris — and
classifying them. Some of these accounts, particularly relating to the
rarer species, have not been added to or improved upon since, and as
a whole they still remain the hard core of our knowledge of certain
aspects of bird study. The book continued as the standard work on
Indian ornithology for many years and is of considerable usefulness
even today. Unfortunately it covers only a portion of our area, leaving
out practically the whole of the present West Pakistan and Kashmir,
as well as Assam, Manipur, East Pakistan, the Andaman and Nicobar
islands, and Ceylon. Nevertheless the appearance of such a handy
comprehensive manual embodying all the hitherto more or less scattered
and region-wise information available only in learned journals — such
as Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London, and the journals of the
Linnaean and Asiatic Societies — at once gave a marked impetus to
bird study. It found new devotees who in turn were soon to become
prominent names in Indian ornithology. The period thence, and right
up to the publication of the first edition of the government-sponsored
Fauna of British India series on Birds 1 was completely dominated by
A. O. Hume, who had meanwhile appeared on the scene. Hume,
1 Vol*. 1 (1889) and 2 (1890) by Eugene W. Oates under the editorship of W. T. Blanford,
Vols. 3 (1895) and 4 (1898) by Blanford himself.
xvii
INTRODUCTION
xviii
who by the way is memorable also as being one of the founders of the
Indian National Congress while still in active civil service, was a
truly remarkable man. He has with good justification been called
‘The Father 5 — and as a dubious compliment by those who were
sometimes irked by his seeming dogmatism ‘ the Pope 9 — of Indian
ornithology. Hume collected methodically and very intensively him-
self and with the help of his numerous band of competent colleagues
and proteges and correspondents widely scattered over the country,
chiefly between about 1870 and 1885. His collection totalled over
60,000 bird skins and large numbers of nests and eggs, all of which he
later presented to the British Museum, where a large part of Hodgson’s
Nepal collection of over 20,000 skins had already found its way. Little
wonder then that, together with the other vast collections such as those
of Col. Sykes, the Marquis of Tweeddale (Viscount Walden), Mr John
Gould, and the many others continuingly acquired since, the British
Museum collection of Indian birds has come to be the most complete
to be found under a single roof anywhere in the world.
Hume founded and edited ‘ Stray Feathers 9 — A journal of ornithology
for India and dependencies between 1872 and 1888. Its eleven volumes are
a veritable gold-mine for the ornithologist and an eloquent memorial
to the zeal, industry and erudition of their editor who by constant
goading, advice and encouragement so ably contrived to get the best
out of his tentacular band of correspondents and collaborators. The
most notable of these were Anderson, Ball, Barnes, Beavan, Biddulph,
Blanford, Brooks, Davison, Godwin-Austen, Hutton, Legge, Mandelli,
McMaster, Oates, Scully, Sharpe, Stoliczka, Tweeddale, Vidal,
Wardlaw-Ramsay, and others.
For the serious worker in Indian ornithology, Stray Feathers is an
absolutely indispensable source. During the period of its existence
this journal was the principal repository of the most important papers
on Indian birds. When it ceased publication, after December 1888,
many of its former contributors, as well as other workers who had
gained prominence meanwhile, diverted their writings to The Ibis —
the journal of the British Ornithologists 9 Union, and to the Journal of
the Bombay Natural History Society . The last, which made its initial
appearance in January 1886, has maintained unbroken publication
since then. It has become increasingly important as a medium for
disseminating knowledge of Indian birds and is now in its 65th volume.
The Journal has grown progressively in international reputation and
scientific stature since the turn of the century, and it is true to say
that no work on Indian ornithology can be complete, or is indeed
possible, without constant delving into its contents. Many significant
contributions on birds have appeared in the pages of the Journal
during the last 60 years. Even up to as recently as 1925 almost all the
writers have been British — chiefly Government officials from all
INTRODUCTION
»x
branches of the services — Army, Police, Civil, Forest, and others —
with a sprinkling of business and professional men. The more promi-
nent of these have already been named in the introductory chapters
bf the Fauna, 2nd edition. Many of them continued to make significant
contributions in the years subsequent to the completion of that work in
1930. This chronicle takes up the thread chiefly from that period on.
Bird study in India had received its second great boost by the
publication between 1889 and 1898 of the four bird volumes by
Eugene W. Oates and W. T. Blanford in the Fauna of British India
series. As in the case of its predecessor, Jerdon’s Birds of India, it brought
together and up to date all the advances in knowledge due to the
extensive work in the field and in the museum during the intervening
twenty-seven years, from scattered sources including the most im-
portant — Hume’s Stray Feathers. It took count of the areas omitted
from Jerdon’s manual, together with Burma, thus covering the entire
British Indian Empire as it then stood, with the addition — on bio-
logical considerations — also of Ceylon. The inclusion of the extra
territory increased the number of species described by more than
half, and with the replacement of Jerdon’s archaic nomenclature and
obsolete system of classification by the more rational and progressive
one that had since emerged from the anatomical researches of men like
Huxley, Garrod, and Forbes, the Fauna gave a new look to Indian
ornithology. It represented a marked improvement over its predecessor
in every sense but one. Owing to limitations of space it was unhappily
deemed fit to curtail drastically the descriptions of habits, migration
etc. or omit them altogether, thus reducing very considerably the
appeal and usefulness of the publication for the non-technical bird
lover. This was a distinctly retrograde step.
Nevertheless the renewed fillip that the volumes gave to Indian bird
study was clearly responsible for the eruption of the notable crop of
outstanding field ornithologists that distinguished the next thirty-three
years up to the publication of Vol. 1 of the * New Fauna ’, including
its author E. C. Stuart Baker himself.
A feature of the period between the two World Wars, and more
particularly since the end of the Second, is the increasing popularity
enjoyed by bird watching and field study as discrete from specimen
collecting. This may be said to have given a new dimension to the study
of Indian birds. The development and perfection of precision instru-
ments such as field-glasses, cameras, and telephoto lenses, fast films,
colour photography and sound recording have contributed not a little
to this. They have helped to produce an ever-widening circle of com-
petent bird watchers whose photographic records and penetrating
observations of habits and nidification have added immensely to our
knowledge, not only of the ecology but also of the systematica of Indian
birds.
XX
INTRODUCTION
Thus, one of the more refreshing features of the 2nd edition of the
Fauna by Stuart Baker (the ‘ New Fauna 5 for short) is the section on
habits under each bird, in addition to fuller notes on nidification than
in its predecessor. To Baker must also go the credit for introducing
trinomials, officially as it were, into Indian ornithology although
this system had been increasingly in vogue in Europe for almost two
decades previously, and especially since the publication of Ernst
Hartert’s great work Die Vogel der palaarktiscken Fauna began in 1910.
With the innovation of trinomials in Indian ornithology, a certain
amount of disagreement and conflict of opinion was inevitable among
ornithologists who had concerned themselves specially with its related
problems; and indeed controversies have not ceased forty years after
its introduction. No sooner was the first volume of the New Fauna
published (in 1922) than the criticisms and arguments began. Whistler
and Ticehurst in particular joined issue with Baker on a number of
his statements and dicta. Many of their objections derived from the
fact that large tracts of the country had as yet not been sufficiently
explored omithologically and there remained considerable gaps in
our knowledge of the geographical distribution of many ‘ resident *
birds — knowledge which is crucial for a proper application of the
subspecies concept.
Nevertheless it must be conceded that by and large the New Fauna
represented a distinct advance on its predecessors, though here and
there it might suffer from obvious defects and inaccuracies of fact and
geography. Among the many workers on Indian birds prominent
during the period between the two World Wars ( c . 1917 to 1943),
and the years that followed, perhaps the most significant were E. C.
Stuart Baker, Hugh Whistler, Dr Claud B. Ticehurst, Sir Norman
Kinnear, Frank Ludlow, B. B. Osmaston, A. E. Jones, Charles M.
Inglis, Salim Ali, W. W. A. Phillips, R. S. P. Bates, and E. H. N.
Lowther.
Besides these there are numerous others who made important
contributions to Indian ornithology and whose names constantly
recur in the Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society and other
scientific periodicals. Foremost among them all must certainly rank
Hugh Whistler, who had not only collected birds diligently during his
seventeen years in the Imperial Police Service in the Punjab, but also
amassed copious notes on every aspect of Indian bird life. These data
were intended for a handbook of Indian birds which he and bis close
friend and collaborator Dr Ticehurst had commenced to write jointly.
It was indeed a tragic blow for Indian ornithology when both these
men — two of the most meticulous workers we have ever had — died
before the manuscript had made much progress, Ticehurst in 1941
and Whistler in 1943. 1 A portion of Whistler’s manuscript notes and
> Obituaries OBT, Ibis 1941 : 32 1 ; HW, Ibis 1943 : 524.
INTRODUCTION
ran
files, relating particularly to the Passeres, passed into the hands of one
of us (SA) through the friendly offices of the Honourable Mrs Joan
Whistler. This material will be of the greatest usefulness when that
section erf the present Handbook is reached. It has proved invaluable to
the second author (SDR) in the preparation of his Synopsis which forms
the groundwork of this book.
It was in order to rectify the deficiencies in our knowledge, chiefly
of geographical distribution within the country pin-pointed by the
publication of the new Fauna, that, at the instigation of Whisder, the
Bombay Natural History Society with the financial sponsorship of
Mr Arthur Vemay — an American business magnate and patron of
Natural History — undertook, in 1929, a well-planned survey of
the birds of the Eastern Ghats, at that time one of the least known
areas in the Peninsula. The extensive survey collections, most excellendy
prepared by V. S. Lapersonne, the Society’s field collector, were studied
in England by Messrs Whistler and Kinnear with the collaboration of
Dr Ticehurst. The scientific report of the Eastern Ghats Survey, in
sixteen parts spread over several volumes of the Journal of the Bombay
Natural History Society, graphically highlighted the gaps in our
knowledge and supplied the incentive for a series of similar investi-
gations in other poorly known parts of the country. These later surveys
covered Jodhpur, Hyderabad, Travancore, Cochin, Gwalior, Indore,
Bhopal, Mysore, Bahawalpur, Gujarat, Kutch, Bastar and Kankar
(eastern Madhya Pradesh), and Orissa, in that order. All the fieldwork,
except in Jodhpur, was carried out by Salim Ali chiefly with funds
donated by the rulers of the States concerned and others, and supple-
mented from his own resources — and in close liaison with Hugh
Whistler up to the time of the latter’s death. The then newly introduced
air mail service between India and the U.K. enabled running contact
to be maintained from the field, and the rapid exchanges proved
invaluable in the elucidation of many problems that required prompt
collection of material and ancillary data. This close coordination
between field and museum greatly enhanced the scientific worth of the
surveys. Besides, Salim Ali being more particularly interested in the
living bird, devoted special attention to ecology and habits, and was
able to accumulate a considerable amount of new data on these
aspects in the course of his field work, adding substantially to what
was recorded before. The late Dato Lokc Wan Tho of Malaya, an
exceptionally keen ornithologist and generous patron of ornithology,
financed a bird survey of Sikkim during three separate field seasons
between 1955 and 1957. The field work was again carried out by
S&lim Ali, once with the active participation of Loke himself, and
resulted in the publication by the former of the book Birds of Sikkim
(1962). A few years earlier, in 1948, Loke had also made it financially
possible for S&hm Ali to undertake a joint ornithological expedition to
INTRODUCTION
xxii
the Mishmi Hills of north-east Assam (now Luhit Frontier Division,
NEFA) with S. Dillon Ripley, the results of which were reported, in the
JBNHS (1948, 48: 1-37). Incidentally it was on the Mishmi expedi-
tion that the idea of the present Handbook was first mooted between
the authors. All these newly accumulated data soon made it plain that
Stuart Baker’s Fauna left much room for correction, addition and
improvement in many respects, and emphasized the need for an early
revision. Added to all the wealth of material procured by these regional
bird surveys, mention must be made of the very fruitful collecting
expeditions of Ripley himself in Nepal, and the Naga Hills of Assam
(now Nagaland), during the post-war years. Further, during the war
period Ripley had found opportunities for selective collecting in Ceylon
while on duty with the American armed forces in that island, thus
supplementing the excellent work zealously carried on there by
W. W. A. Phillips over a long series of years. A major contribution
to bird collections from India was made by another American,
Walter Koelz, during an extended sojourn of some fourteen years
(c. 1939-53) in the subcontinent and neighbouring countries. While
collecting specimens of grains on behalf of the U.S. Department of
Agriculture, he managed also to amass a stupendous collection of some
40,000 bird skins — partly in Iran and Afghanistan, but mainly in
Pakistan, Nepal, Assam, and various other insufficiently worked areas
of the Indian Subregion. Koelz was an indefatigable field collector. By
dint of unsparing effort and fanatical industry he managed to procure
large series of many birds poorly represented even in the foremost world
collections, including some of the rarest forms. Unfortunately he does
not seem to have kept field notes on habits, ecology, etc. He certainly
never published any, nor have we been privileged to see them in
MS. — thus depriving Indian ornithology of what could undoubtedly
have been his greatest contribution to it. Unfortunately also the vast
Koelz collection was broken up and dispersed among a number of
museums in the U.S.A., a circumstance which has deprived students of
the convenience of having all this material available for study in one
central institution.
* * * #
The standard manuals of ornithology mentioned earlier were excellent
in their own way, but they presumed a basic familiarity with birds and
were difficult to use by the uninitiated layman. Besides, it was widely
realized that now — over thirty years since their publication — Stuart
Baker’s Fauna volumes were outmoded in many respects and stood in
urgent need of revision. What was obviously needed at this stage was
not merely the Fauna in its old format brought up to date, but a work
which combined strict scientific accuracy with non-technical language
and popular appeal — concise accounts of life history and habits and.
INTRODUCTION
xxtii
above all, good coloured illustrations supplemented by simple clues
to field identification. Since the change in the political set-up in India
(in 1947) and the departure of British officials, among whom were to
be found some of the keenest and most knowledgeable bird-watchers,
field activity suffered a noticeable setback. A serious impediment to
the development of scientific ornithology in India, where bird-watching
as a hobby has never been very popular even among the more affluent
and educated classes, was certainly the lack of illustrated literature
on the birds of the country. The stimulus given to purposeful bird-
watching as a first step to deeper study by the publication in recent
years of illustrated books like Whistler’s Popular Handbook of Indian Birds
and Sdlim Ali’s Book of Indian Birds clearly pointed to the need of a
more comprehensive work on the same lines.
Our inspiration was derived from the admirable Handbook of British
Birds by Witherby and others, which combines all the desired features
in a manner that has seldom been excelled. But though our book is
so entitled as a tribute to its British original, we are only too conscious
of the loss it suffers by comparison since our information on most topics
of the life history and ecology of Indian birds — even of distribution
— is as yet quite elementary compared with that in the British hand-
book. Nevertheless it seems desirable to record whatever is known if
only to show the extent of its incompleteness, so that the deficiencies
may in time be rectified.
The first essential, before a beginning with such a book could be
made, was an up-to-date checklist as basis for the descriptive volumes
to follow, a need admirably fulfilled by Ripley’s A Synopsis of the Birds
of India and Pakistan published by the Bombay Natural History Society
in 1961. It lists some 1,200 species in nearly 2,100 forms within the
above limits, with which is also included Ceylon from biological
considerations.
In the past the greater part of the ornithological work in India
consisted of specimen or egg collecting, sometimes rather haphazardly.
Within recent years these activities have been increasingly replaced
by bird-watching at various levels of scientific competence. Most of
the observers have been government officials or tea, coffee or rubber
planters, fortuitously stationed for varying periods in different
parts of the country. Few of them possessed any formal biological
background, and though a number contributed substantially to our
knowledge such were, for the size of the country, too few and far
between. For us — the present authors — difficulty lay in assessing the
authenticity of the distributional and other records by observers of
unproved competence in field identification especially where they
rested solely on sight, or related to topics of a controversial nature.
There is no doubt that in the past many unwarranted records and
observations have been uncritically accepted in this way. The need
INTRODUCTION
xxiv
for caution has doubled in recent years because of the expanding circle
of casual bird-watchers of vastly divergent expertness, and the decline
in the vogue of shooting specimens to support identification. Thus
it is possible that in exercising our judgement in this regard we may
sometimes have erred on the side of overcaution.
Even after suitable compression of the available data, meagre as
they are on the whole, a coverage of this magnitude is estimated to
require 10 volumes of approximately 400 pages each, and many years
to complete. Such a work must inevitably be a compilation to a
large extent, collating our own notes with the sifted publications and
MSS. of a large number of field observers and museum workers. In
view of the coloured illustrations, ‘ feather by feather * descriptions of
plumages, as in the Fauna, were considered redundant. The pictures,
supplemented by the Keys and the paragraphs on Field Characters
and Museum Diagnosis, should suffice to identify a bird in the field as
well as in the hand.
The New Fauna has already listed active workers in Indian
ornithology up to the time of its completion in 1930; that account now
merely needs carrying forward to the publication of the present volume.
In addition to the persons named below there are others who have
made minor but significant contributions and who will appear in the
text. During the progress of these volumes it is hoped that further
names will also need to be added. The major continuing contributors
as well as new ones since the completion of the second edition of the
Fauna have been Humayun Abdulali, Salim Ali, E. C. Stuart Baker,
R. S. P. Bates, F. N. Betts, Biswamoy Biswas, F. S. Briggs, P. T. L.
Dodsworth, E. A. D’Abreu, R. S. Dharmakumarsinhji, G. H. Donald,
K. R. Eates, R. L. Fleming (Sr.), J. G. Higgins, Charles M. Inglis,
A. E. Jones, N. B. Kinnear, Walter Koelz, Satya Churn Law,-Loke
Wan Tho, E. H. N. Lowther, Frank Ludlow, R. Meinertzhagen,
B. B. Osmaston, W. W. A. Phillips, Mrs Desiree Proud, S. Dillon
Ripley, Claud B. Ticehurst, H. W. Waite and Hugh Whistler.
Foremost among those active in Burma up to the time of its fall to the
Japanese invaders in the war (1941) were P. F. Garthwaite, T. R.
Livesey, H. C. Smith, B. E. Smythies, and J. K. Stanford. Since the
end of hostilities little work seems to have been done in that country,
or since the partition (1947) in Pakistan.
Acknowledgements
To all the above and the many more on whom we have drawn freely
we feel greatly beholden. Particular mention must be made of
Dr Biswamoy Biswas who has been associated with the preparation
of the MS. in various ways and whose critical comments and sugges-
tions on various matters have always been most valuable.
INTRODUCTION
xrv
We have to express our indebtedness to the National Institute of
Sciences of India and its then President, the late Dr Sunder Lai Hora,
for the award of a Research Fellowship to one of us (SA) for two years
(1952-3) to forward the extraction of relevant material from the
literature. The Bombay Natural History Society, under whose sponsor*
ship this book is being produced, has provided facilities at every stage,
especially the use of its excellent collection of Indian bird skins and
ornithological library. We wish to express our appreciation of the
unfailing cooperation we have received from its staff at all times.
Without the substantial grant-in-aid from the Government of India,
Ministry of Scientific Research, for the preparation of the four-colour
blocks, and for secretarial assistance to one of us (SA) in preparing
the MS., it is doubtful if such an ambitious project could have been
entertained or carried through. Likewise would it have been im-
possible to find the foreign exchange needed for payment of the artists’
fees, since most of these are of necessity European, but for the generous
underwriting by friends in the United States of America of the
substantial amount needed for the purpose.
The dichotomous keys to genera, species, and subspecies have been
constructed by one of us (SDR) with the most valuable aid of his
research assistant Mr Gorman M. Bond, Museum Specialist of the
Smithsonian Institution, Washington, to whom warm thanks are due.
We are indebted to Mr Bertram E. Smythies and Messrs Oliver &
Boyd Ltd, the author and publishers respectively of The Birds of Burma,
for their generous permission to use a number of the coloured plates
painted for that book by Commander A. M. Hughes. A few of the
figures on these depict a different subspecies to that found within
Indian limits, but the differences are mostly minor enough to be re-
conciled by a short verbal correction. We have been similarly privileged
to use the coloured plates from The Birds of Travancore and Cochin (now
Birds of Kerala) and The Birds of Sikkim by courtesy of the sponsors
of those books, the University of Kerala and the Government of
Sikkim respectively, and of the publishers, the Oxford University
Press.
Most of the line drawings in the text are the same as appeared in the
first edition of the Fauna of British India : Birds, and again in the second
edidon of that work by E. C. Stuart Baker (Taylor & Francis, for
the Government of India). In addition, Messrs H., F. & G. Witherby
have generously permitted us to reproduce some of the very useful text
figures from their Handbook of British Birds . All this considerate coopera-
tion has not only helped to cut down costs, especially of painting the
extra coloured plates and block-making, but also resulted in a
considerable saving of time.
The distribution maps have been constructed or adapted from a
number of different sources the chief of which are Atlas of European
wvi INTRODUCTION
Birds by K. H. Voous (Nelson), Waterfowl of the W'brWbyJean Delacour
(Country Life), and Birds of the Soviet Union by G. P. Dementiev, H.
Gladkov et ai.
Lastly, our particular and grateful appreciation is due to the s taff
of the Oxford University Press. But for their running bombardment of
queries and suggestions many more inaccuracies, inconsistencies and
ambiguities would have persisted in this volume than the reader is
perhaps still likely to discover.
REFERENCES
Baker, E. C. Stuart (1922). Fauna of British India, Birds, 2nd edition, Vol. 1, Intro-
duction, pp, 1-44.
Blanford, W. T. (1898). Fauna of British India , Birds, 1st edition, Vol, 4, Appendix,
especially p. 477.
Hume, A. O. (1872-88). Stray Feathers, Vols, 1-11.
Jerdon, T. G. (1862-4). The Birds of India . Introduction, pp. xli-xlv, and Ti ft of
authors quoted, in Vol. 3.
Kinnear, Sir Norman (1952). 1 A History of Indian Mammalogy and Ornithology’,
Jour . Bombay not . Hist Sac., 50 1 766-78; 51 : 104-10.
Oates, E. W. and Blanford, W. T. (1889). Fauna of British India , Birds , 1st edition,
Vol 1, Preface (by YVTB), pp. iv-x.
GENERAL
Ornithologists conditioned to the sequence of Orders and Families
in Stuart Baker’s Fauna volumes may experience some initial incon-
venience and confusion by the arrangement in the present handbook.
In the main this represents the scheme proposed by Wetmore (Proc.
U.S. Nat. Museum, 76, Art. 24, 1930, pp. 1-8) now used more or less
internationally with minor shufflings chiefly in the Passeriform (‘ Song
bird ’) families. This system was formally introduced into Indian orni-
thology by the publication in 1961 of A Synopsis of the Birds of India
and Pakistan by S. Dillon Ripley, our latest authentic checklist, which
virtually forms the index volume and basis of the present work. Super-
ficially this system is little more than the old one in reverse. Whereas
the Fauna began with the Order Passeriformes as containing the puta-
tively highest developed forms and worked down to the lowest, namely
to the Gaviiformes (Loons and Divers), we now begin at the bottom
of the evolutionary tree and work up to the highest evolved forms.
The sequence of Orders and Families in the Synopsis, which will be
followed in this work, is as under :
Volume 1 (Nos. 1-224)
Order gaviiiormes
Family Gaviidae : Divers, Loons
Order podicipediformes
Family Podicipedidae : Grebes
Order p rocellariiformes
Family Procellariidae : Petrels, Shearwaters
Hydrobatidae : Storm Petrels
Order pelecaniformes
Family Phaethontidae : Tropic-birds
Pclccanidae : Pelicans
Sulidae : Boobies
Phalacrocoracidac : Cormorants and Darter
Fregatidae : Frigate Birds
Order ciconiiformes
Family Ardeidae : Herons, Egrets, Bitterns
Ciconiidae : Storks
Thrcskiornithidac : Ibises, Spoonbill
Phoenicopteridae : Flamingos
Order anseriformes
Family Anatidae : Ducks, Geese, Swans
Order falconiformes
Family Accipitridae : Hawks, Vultures, etc.
Falconidae : Falcons
xxvii
GENERAL
xxviii
Volume 2 (Nos, 225-434)
Order galliformbs
Family Megapodiidae : Megapodes
Phasianidae: Pheasants, Partridges, Quails
Order gruiformes
Family Turnicidae: Button and Bustard-Quails
Gruidae : Cranes
Heliomithidae : Finfoot
Oddidae: Bustards
Order gharadriiformes
Family Ja^anidae: Ja$anas
Haematopodidae: Oystercatchers
Charadriidae:
Subfamily Gharadriinae : Plovers
Scolopacinae : Curlews, Sandpipers, Snipe, Woodcock
Phalaropinae: Phalaropes
Family Rostratulidae: Painted Snipe
Recurvirostridae : Stilts, Avocets
Dromadidae: Crab Plover
Volume 3 (Nos. 435-665)
Family Burhinidae: Stone Curlews, Thick-knees
Glareolidae: Coursers, Pratincoles
Stercorariidae : Skuas, Jaegers
Laridae: Gulls, Terns
Order columbiformes
Family Pteroclididae : Sandgrouse
Columbidae: Pigeons, Doves
Order psittagi formes
Family Psittacidae: Parrots
Order cuculiformes
Family Cuculidae: Cuckoos
Order strigi formes
Family Strigidae:
Subfamily Tytoninae: Bam Owls
Striginae: Owls
Volume 4 (Nos. 666-871)
Order gaprimulgiformes
Family Podargidae: Frogmouths
Caprimulgidae : Nightjars or Goatsuckers
Order apodiformes
Family Apodidae :
Subfamily Apodinae: Swifts
Hemiprocninae: Crested Swifts
GENERAL
xxix
Order trogoniformes
Family Trogonidae: Trogons
Order coraciiformes
Family Alcedinidae : Kingfishers
Meropidae: Bee-eaters
Coraciidae: Rollers
Upupidae: Hoopoes
Bucerotidae: Hornbills
Order piciformes
Family Capitonidae: Barbets
Indicatoridae: Honeyguides
Picidae: Woodpeckers
Order Passeriformes
Family Eurylaimidae : Broadbills
Pittidae: Pittas
Volume 5 (Nos. 872-1063)
Family Alaudidae: Larks
Hirundinidae : Swallows
Laniidae: Shrikes
Oriolidae: Orioles
Dicruridae: Drongos
Artamidae: Wood Swallows or Swallow- Shrikes
Stumidae: Starlings
Corvidae: Jays, Magpies, Crows
Bombycillidae :
Subfamily Bombycillinae : Waxwings
Hypocoliinae : Hypocolius
Volume 6 (Nos. 1064-1271)
Family Campephagidac : Cuckoo-Shrikes, Minivets
Irenidac : Fairy Bluebirds, Ioras, Leaf Birds
Pycnonotidae : Bulbuls
Muscicapidae :
Subfamily Timaliinae: Babblers (part)
Volume 7 (Nos. 1272-1473)
Family Muscicapidae (cont.) :
Subfamily Timaliinae: Babblers (cont.)
Muscicapinae : Flycatchers
Pachycephalinae: Shrikebilled Flycatchers
GENERAL
Volume 8 (Nos. 1474-1680)
Family Muscicapidae (cont.) :
Subfamily Syiviinae: Warblers
Turdinae: Thrushes, Chats
Family Troglodytidae: Wrens
Volume 9 (Nos. 1681-1891)
Family Cinclidae: Dippers
Pruneilidae: Accentors
Paridae :
Subfamily Parinae : True Titmice
Remizinae: Penduline Titmice
Aegithalinae : Longtailed Titmice
Family Sittidae:
Subfamily Sittinae: Nuthatches
Tichodromadinae : Wall Creeper
Salpornitinae : Grey Creeper
Family Certhiidae: Tree Creepers
Motacillidae : Pipits, Wagtails
Volume 10 (Nos. 1892-2060)
Family Dicaeidae: Flowerpeckers
Nectariniidae : Sunbirds
Zosteropidae : White-eyes
Ploceidae :
Subfamily Passerinae : House or Rock Sparrows
Ploceinae: Weaver Birds
Estrildinae: Waxbills, Avadavats
Family Fringillidae:
Subfamily Fringillinae: Chaffinches
Garduelinae : Goldfinches and allies
Family Emberizidae: Buntings
Measurements. At the head of each description, before field
characters, is given an indication of size, first as compared with some
well-known and familiar bird (the signs + and — denoting larger or
smaller than, and ± more or less equal to), and then by length in
centimetres and inches. This refers to the length from tip of bill to tip
of tail of a freshly killed bird laid on its back, unstretched, or of a
similarly made up museum skin. This measure is purely as a matter of
convenience in field identification since it is easy enough for anyone
to hold his two hands apart and visualize what * about 15 cm. or 6
inches * means. It has no scientific value.
Under museum diagnosis the measurements given for wing, bill,
tarsus, and tail are those taken by the standard methods as shown in
GENERAL
STANDARD METHOD OF MEASURING BIRDS
1 Wing
2 Bill
3 Tarsus
4 Tail
Pressed out on the rule until it is quite flat, giving
the longest measurement obtainable. For very large
birds (e.g. eagles and swans), a measuring tape is
stretched from the carpal joint to the longest feather
along the upper side of the wing. This is known as
the chord measurement.
From skull. One end of the dividers is slid along the
culmen and pressed to the skull, which is usually
concealed by feathers. This gives a more consistent
measurement than from the end of feathering to
the tip (‘ culmen * or ‘ bill from feathers *).
One end of the dividers is pressed to the tibiotarsal
or * knee * joint, the other passed to the joint at the
base of the middle toe.
One end of the dividers is slid between the central
tail feathers and pressed to the body while the other
is passed to the tip of the longest feather.
the Explanatory Figures. It must be mentioned, however, that in all
of Stuart Baker’s measurements quoted from the Fauna, the bill has
been measured from the forehead feathers to the tip (i.e. culmen), and
not from the skull as is now the accepted practice. Wing measurement
in particular can be more satisfactorily taken in the flesh — either
on a freshly killed bird or a living one — while the joints are still
flexible and easy to manipulate. There is some slight shrinkage on
drying which can largely be compensated for by not pressing and
xxxii
GENERAL
straightening out the fresh wing on the rule too much (as when measur-
ing a dry skin) but merely leaving it in a fully extended natural position.
This precaution is necessary in order to make the wing comparable
with dry museum skins later.
Weight. Field collectors have paid little attention to this
detail in the past except perhaps in the case of some game birds. Apart
from being a record of sexual differences in many species, fluctuations
in weight due to seasonal physiological changes and deposition of body
fat have an important bearing for the study of bird migration ; therefore,
wherever possible weights should be accurately recorded. With small
birds like most passerines this is easily done by slipping the bird, dead
or alive, into a plastic bag and hooking it on to a suitable spring
balance, the tare having been previously ascertained. With large live
birds some device to prevent them from fluttering during weighment is
necessary.
Note. Much of our information relating to nesting has been
culled from Stuart Baker, either from FBI or from his Nidification of
Birds of the Indian Empire. Though these are authentic sources by and
large, it needs to be emphasized that some of this author’s data con-
cerning clutch sizes, and even his identifications of certain eggs, are
suspect or demonstrably erroneous. Baker, although an experienced
oologist himself, often collected his eggs and information vicariously
with the help of local shikaris and hired jungle people, or purchased
them in lots from minor professional collectors whose testimony was
not always dependable. Therefore any of his published data that
differ widely from those of other workers or from personal experience
must be treated with caution since they are more than likely to have
been vitiated in this manner. Every effort has here been made to
weed out all palpably doubtful records.
MIGRATION
The 2100 odd species and subspecies of birds that comprise the avifauna
of the Indian subcontinent and Ceylon include land birds as well as
pelagic forms such as petrels* shearwaters, frigate birds, boobies, and
skuas normally found only out at sea but which get blown in sporadi-
cally on our seaboard during heavy monsoon gales. Roughly about
350 forms are extralimital seasonal immigrants, meaning that they
breed outside our territory, mostly in the Palaearctic Region beyond
the Himalayas — in central and northern Asia, and eastern and
northern Europe. The most abundant and regular winter migrants are
the ducks and geese (Anatidae), Wading or Shore birds (Charadriidae)
especially of the subfamilies Charadriinae and Scolopacinae, Cranes
(Gruidae), and the passerine families Hirundinidae (Swallows),
Muscicapidae especially Muscicapinae (Flycatchers), Sylviinae (War-
blers), Turdinae (Thrushes and Chats), Motacillidae (Pipits and
Wagtails), Fringillidae (Finches), and Emberizidae (Buntings). But
many other families are represented among the migrants as well.
Moreover, every gradation of migration is met with, from local move-
ments of no more than a few kilometres, or a few hundred metres
altitudinally in the Himalayas or peninsular mountains, to enormous
trans-Himalayan journeys involving several thousand kilometres each
way.
Besides the large number of extralimital migrants, there are
numerous others whose palaearctic breeding range just encroaches our
boundaries on the Afghanistan-West Pakistan border, and also into
Gilgit, Ladakh, Garhwal, Nepal, Sikkim, Bhutan, and NE. Assam.
Many of these species spread over northern India in winter, and many
over the rest of the Peninsula as well. In all respects they behave like
the true migrants from beyond, arriving with them and spreading
out over the country in autumn, chiefly between September and
November, and leaving again for their northern breeding grounds
before our hot weather commences in March/April. Considering the
hundreds of species and the millions of individuals involved in these
biannual journeys, year after year, it is amazing how little precise
information we possess concerning the provenance, routes and goals,
and other factual details of the migrants. Practically all that is known
is based on somewhat scrappy and haphazard observations, chiefly
of British army and civil service personnel who happened to be stationed
along the strategic Indo- Afghan border within the last 100 years.
Some of these men were excellent field naturalists and have contributed
vastly to our basic knowledge of Indian ornithology. The names of
Scully, Biddulph, the two Marshall brothers, Magrath, Whitehead
xxxiii
XXXIV
MIGRATION
and Donald stand out from amongst the many others in this connexion.
Their observational data, though primarily relating to sporting birds
such as ducks, geese, and cranes, form the hard core of practically all
that is known of trans-Himalayan bird migration. They outlined
the broad pattern of the seasonal movements and indicated that the
main migration route between Siberia and central Asia on the one
hand and the Indian peninsula on the other was the Indus Valley in
the northwest. Similar though even more fragmentary bits of infor-
mation from the northeastern outposts of India suggest that from
NE. Asia the Tsangpo or Brahmaputra river and its affluents constitute
the principal flyway. The two migrational streams enter from either
end of the Himalayan mountain chain in a pincer movement and
converge on the tip of the Peninsula, weakening as they advance south-
ward and trickle over into Ceylon which virtually forms the terminus.
However, increasing evidence is being procured by mountaineers in
recent years that migrants also fly directly across the Himalayas, even
over some of the highest sections of the mountain barrier, thereby
in effect shortening their journeys very considerably. Not only have
many migrating geese, waders and passerine birds been visually
recorded during daytime 1 and heard passing over the high altitude
camps at night, but climbers have also come across remains of migra-
tory birds such as ducks, cranes, waders, and eagles 2 strewn on high
glaciers in the Himalayas and Karakorams which had evidently
perished in storms and blizzards. At Dehra Dun geese have been
observed through a telescope flying northward in spring at a height of
c . 29,500 feet (8830 m.) across the face of the moon* Indeed there is now
sufficient evidence of this kind to suggest that a far greater amount of
passage must take place directly over the High Himalayas than had
hitherto been credited. Recent migration studies by radar in Europe
and America have shown that, contrary to older beliefs, even small
passerine birds may travel at unsuspected heights of 6000 metres or
more, which lends colour to this probability. Nevertheless it is true that
a large proportion of the migratory birds, especially ducks and geese,
that enter the subcontinent from the northwest in autumn — when
the journey is more leisurely performed — sweep down the valley of
the Indus river. One arm of the migrational tide branches off early
in a SE. direction and debouches into the north Indian plains through
Hazara, Kashmir, and the Punjab. The Kagan and Kurram Valleys
on the northwest frontier of Pakistan have been specifically named in
this connexion (Whitehead, Magrath). The other arm continues
southward down the Indus and, avoiding the inhospitable expanse
1 Biswas reports seeing a stray hoopoe ( Upupa epops ) on Pumori Glacier, c. 5790 m.,
in May.
1 Blacktailed Godwit (Limosa limosa ) and Pintail Duck (Anas acuta) on Khumbu Glacier
e . 16,000 ft. (4875 m.) at the foot of Mt Everest, and Steppe Eagles ( Aquila nipalensis) on
South Col, c. 26,000 ft. (7925 m.).
MIGRATION
XXXV
of the Thar or Indian Desert to the east, veers further south in a south-
easterly direction to cross the Great Rann of Kutch, northern Gujarat
and Saurashtra and enter the Indian peninsula. This stream is augmen-
ted in its course by migrants travelling SSE. from W. Asia — from
the Caspian- Aral region through Iran, Afghanistan, Baluchistan, and
Lower Sind. This, in broad outline, is the general picture that emerges
from a consideration of the data available. But it is largely conjectural
and hypothetical and needs verifying by more intensive studies. There
is reason to believe that for many species the pattern of the spring'
migration, which is usually more hurried and direct, with fewer stop-
overs and also at higher altitudes, is very different. Kutch also lies
on the extreme eastern fringe of a broad stream of through migration
that sweeps down from central and northern Asia in a southwesterly
direction in autumn. This current passes over Afghanistan and the
former NW. Frontier Province, down through Baluchistan and Sind,
then across the Arabian Sea and the tip of southern Arabia into
Somalia, Abyssinia, and further south in the African continent. Such
species as the Kashmir Roller (Coracias garrulus semenowi ), European
Nightjar ( Caprimulgus europaeus unwini ), European and Bluecheeked
Bee-eaters ( Merops apiaster and M. s. persicus ), Redbacked Shrike
(. Lanins collurio ), Rock Thrush ( Monticola saxatilis ), Greybacked Chat
( Erythropygia galactotes familiaris ), Indian Whitethroat ( Sylvia communis
icterops), Spotted Flycatcher ( Muscicapa striata neumanni ), and others,
travel regularly by this route. From the absence of Indian records on
spring passage it is evident that most of them, at any rate, take a
different route for the return journey north.
Far less is known about bird migration across our northeastern
frontiers. This is largely due to the uninhabited, rugged and mostly
inaccessible nature of the terrain in the eastern Himalayas, and to the
fact of this frontier having been considered of too little strategic im-
portance in the past to necessitate the stationing of British military
personnel such as have provided most of our data for the northwest.
The recent Chinese incursions in that quarter have dictated greater
vigilance and logistic developments, and with the opening up of the
North-cast Frontier Agency tracts (NEFA) to * civilizing ’ influences
it is to be hoped that our knowledge of bird migration in that area will
profit.
In so far as Ceylon is concerned there is some evidence for the
presumption that not only do both the western and eastern arms of the
palaearctic migration into the Indian peninsula cross over into the
island, but also of a third route that brings NE. Asiatic migrants
through Indochina and Thailand via the Andamans. So far, however, no
direct proof of this has been provided by ring recoveries (Phillips 1956).
Our knowledge of Indian bird migration has so far consisted largely
of fragmentary records, often of a subjective and conjectural nature.
xxx vi
MIGRATION
The first attempt to rectify this deficiency was a modest scheme of
bird-ringing initiated in 1926 by the Bombay Natural History Society
with the active cooperation of the then Maharaja of Dhar (Sir Udajirao
Puar) and the rulers of a few other Indian States, as well as some of the
larger zamindars of Sind. Considering the meagreness and haphazard
nature of that experiment, which virtually petered out by 1934 through
lack of funds, the results proved unexpectedly gratifying. Those early
ring recoveries constituted our first positive confirmation that most of
our migratory ducks are in fact derived from Siberia and from central
and northeastern Asia, often over distances of 3000 to 5000 km. and
more. In addition to Indian-ringed birds recovered in the U.S.S.R.,
some highly significant recoveries of European-ringed birds in India
were also obtained during the same period: a Green Sandpiper
( Tringa ochropus) ringed near Moscow, in Kerala; a White Stork
(i Ciconia ciconia) ringed in western Germany, in Rajasthan; and a Rosy
Pastor ( Sturms roseus ) ringed in Hungary, in the Punjab.
It was not till the year 1960 that a more comprehensive project
for bird-ringing in India became possible through the cooperation
of various scientific organizations interested in the problem of
possible dissemination of arthropod-borne viruses by migrating
birds. During the seven years of operation of this scheme nearly a
hundred thousand migratory birds have been ringed, chiefly wagtails
(Motacillidae) and of several other passerine families, in addition to
ducks (Anatidae) and waders (Charadriidae). So far all the work
has been done departmentally by the Bombay Natural History
Society in a few selected localities, but it is proposed to expand
the programme with the cooperation of individual ornithologists and
naturalists’ associations into a coordinated network of ringing field
stations giving the widest possible coverage over the subcontinent.
The intensive ringing of migratory birds, combined with visual records
and other data regularly maintained by competent observers and over
prolonged periods of time, and supplemented by modem migration
study techniques and mechanical devices such as radar, can alone
provide an unequivocal picture of the situation in our area. Of all
these, perhaps large-scale bird-ringing is the most immediately
important.
The aluminium rings used by the Society are of several appropriate
sizes. They bear the inscription inform Bombay nat. hist,
society together with a serial number prefixed by a letter of the
alphabet denoting size. In order to coordinate all ringing activities in
the subcontinent and minimize dissipation of effort and data, it is
desirable that only the Bombay Natural History Society’s rings should
be used, as is being done in Ceylon. All recoveries, whether of these
rings or foreign ones in India, should be reported (preferably accom-
panied by the actual ring) to the Society as the central organization
MIGRATION
XXXVU
xxxviii
MIGRATION
in this part of the world for ringing and maintaining records and
furnishing up-to-date information.
Very little has been published on Indian bird migration, and that
largely as haphazard parochial arrival and departure dates of random
species in random parts of the country. Most of these records are
scanty and irregular. They are, moreover, buried away among regional
bird papers published from time to time chiefly in the Journal of Ike
Bombay Natural History Society or The Ibis, and difficult to unearth and
collate.
The map indicates the pattern of Anatid migration as revealed by
the recoveries of ringed ducks in and from the subcontinent to date.
This, in general, is the pattern gradually developing in the case of
other palaearctic migrants as well, but it may be a long time before
we have sufficient authentic data to deduce satisfactory specific con-
clusions. Details of a few significant recoveries will be found under the
species concerned.
REFERENCES
Ali, Salim (1962): ‘Recent Studies of Bird Migration and Bird Ticks in India.’
Proc. XIII hit. Orn. Congress, I: 354-61.
Donald, C. H. (1923): ‘ Flight of Migrating Birds.’ Jour. Bombay nat. Hist . Soc., 29 :
146-9.
Parsons, R. E. (1938): ‘ Migration Routes of Geese (Sadiya Frontier Tract, Assam).’
ibid., 40 : 764-5.
Phillips, W. W. A. (1956): ‘ Bird Migration in relation to Ceylon.’ Jour. Roy. Asiat.
Soc.. Ceylon Br., N.S., 5 ( 1 ): 25-41,
ZOOGEOGRAPHY OF THE INDIAN SUBREGION
The * Oriental Region * (or Indian Region as he called it) was first
proposed as one of the six zoogeographic regions of the world by Philip
Lutley Sclater in 1858. His subdivisions were based on the study of
birds for he was an ornithologist. In spite of the century of discussion
and research that has ensued, his arrangement is still followed today. A
more specific discussion of the zoogeography of India followed in the
paper of Blanford (1901).
Broadly speaking the Oriental Region encompasses most of what is
today known politically as India, excluding the higher reaches of the
Himalayan mountains although the Oriental fauna and flora extend
up to 11,000 feet in some cases (Ripley, 1961). Nepal, Ceylon and
adjacent islands, East Pakistan, and large areas of southeast Asia are
included in the Oriental Region. 1 West Pakistan is a much drier area
and belongs to a transition zone of southern Eurasia, partly the
Palacarctic Region so-called, with drier, more temperate climate,
partly trending towards the hot dry Somali arid zone of Chapin
(1932), as described for Arabia (Ripley, 1954).
In his excellent general book on zoogeography, Darlington (1957)
has pointed out that the interpretation and study of the patterns of
distribution of animals which makes the subject of zoogeography
consists of a number of subpatterns. The first and broadest of these is
limitation, the final limits of a species or a larger grouping— a genus
or family or class of animal. Within geographical limits certain classes
of animals exhibit roughly parallel distributions. The assembling and
considering of the limits then to which cold-adapted or warm-adapted
animals proceed, tends to bring into rough focus the concept of zoogeo-
graphical regions of the world. Thus the Oriental Region besides being
a geographic part of the land and fresh waters ol the world, has a certain
limit imposed on it by climate and temperature within which groupings
of animals find their preferred home.
A second subpattern is zonation, implying climate, and it is funda-
mental to the land divisions of the Oriental Region that it falls primarily
within the tropical zone with fingers extending up into the mountains.
Mountains of course in tropical latitudes serve as islands. By pro-
ceeding upwards and gaining altitude the tropical zone is lost gradually
and at a steady rate. Gradually the subtropical, then the temperate
zones are encountered, and finally at the greatest heights, the alpine
zone may be reproduced as it were, duplicating conditions found in
the tundras of the far north or the subantarctic.
1 For a fuller account see S$lim AJi 1964, Article "Oriental Region ’ in Thomson, A L.
(ed.)> ZhW. Birds (London & New York).
xxxix
xl ZOOGEOGRAPHY OF INDIAN SUBREGION
A third pattern is that of geographical radiation , of spreading outwards
of a particular group of animals from some geographic centre. A
powerful world centre for animal evolution has apparently been the
old-world tropics so-called, the heartland of which is the Oriental
Region. Thus in the case of birds, the dominant families of birds in
India belong to what is sometimes called the ‘ Indochinese * fauna,
the birds adapted to life in warm, moist tropical southeast Asia, birds
primarily of jungle or heavy forest. The geographical ramifications of
southeast Asia, the tangled patterns of mountain chains, river drainage
systems and a long period of stable climate seem to have been ideal
for the evolution of a wide array of species of birds.
A fourth subpattem is that of differentiation of faunas . Here in the
tropics of the Oriental Region this is well illustrated in birds where
there is great diversity. Over sixty per cent of all the endemic species
of Indian birds (endemic meaning restricted to a particular place) are of
the ‘ Indochinese * subregion so-called, confined to the Oriental Region.
Darlington’s fifth subpattern is that of concentration in the largest , most
favourable areas . Here again this phenomenon is well-illustrated in
the response of the bird fauna of India which, being predominantly
tropical, occurs in greatest concentration in the largest areas of rainfall
in eastern India, East Pakistan, along the mountain chains wherever
the monsoon shadow occurs, especially in southwest India, in parts
of Ceylon and in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
Of all the zoogeographical regions of the world, perhaps the Oriental
is the least limited by barriers, but at the same time it is one of the
principal if not the principal one from the point of view of evolution
and of having acted as a centre of dispersal. Only northern South
America has a richer fauna, only tropical America, and some of the
most isolated areas like New Zealand, have a higher rate in proportion
of species formation and evolutionary response.
A brief review of geological origins may be appropriate here. In
Permian times, more than two hundred million years ago, the peninsula
of India and an inter-connected Ceylon, all the area south of the
Ganges river basin, was part of a continental region. This massif is
composed of ancient rocks which to the geologist are representative of a
continent. These rocks are known as the Gondwana formation and the
outlines of this ancient continent can be traced up to northwestern
India on the west, towards Calcutta on the east, with the edges of
marine sediments marking old coastlines, and old river beds emptying
into areas of former seas. The special fossil shells of this rock show that
the continent was rimmed by far cooler seas than today. What the
continent of Gondwanaland consisted of may never be known, but
there are clues from the presence of similar rock formations. It may
have spread south as far as the Seychelles Islands to Madagascar, east
to western Australia, and perhaps even farther south and west. Whatever
ZOOGEOGRAPHY OF INDIAN SUBREGION xli
the connexions of this ancient past, we do know that the continents
were presumably closer together many aeons ago. Recent studies of
oceanographers and geophysicists show systems of ridges deep in the
oceans which parallel the continental masses and may Well indicate a
gradual expansion of the earth’s exterior surface by the process of inter-
nal connexion or the transfer of rock materials under great heat and
pressure. The continents thus may be drifting apart under the slow
convection of the earth’s interior at a rate of perhaps one centimetre
a year. But from the point of view of the distribution of warm-blooded
vertebrates these ancient connexions have little if any influence.
Between Palaeozoic times (including the Permian) and Recent
time comes the vast stretch of the Mesozoic or Age of Reptiles,
occupying more than one hundred thirty million years. Birds probably
had their origin during the middle of this Era but it is the Genozoic
or Recent Era of the last seventy million years which has seen
the evolution of birds as we know them today, warm-blooded, with
feathers, untoothed bills and the other physical features of their class.
Large parts of the northern Oriental Region were under water until
well on in the Recent, the Genozoic Era. The northern fringes of the
Himalayas were under the water of the great central Eurasian sea, the
Sea of Tethys which continued into Pliocene times, less than twenty
million years ago, gradually drying and retreating to leave behind
the Mediterranean, the Black, Caspian and Aral seas. The former
boundaries of the Tethys Sea extend south to West Pakistan and central
India and included the drainage basin lowlands of the Indus and
Ganges river systems. As the seas gradually disappeared and land rose,
violent stresses in the outer layers of the earth produced foldings of the
mantle to raise up mountain chains from the Alps east to the Pamirs
and the Himalayas and the north-south systems of ridges of eastern
Assam, Burma and southwest -China.
The most recent geological period has been the Pleistocene or Ice
Age, marked by four successive cold periods with cycles of glaciation,
lowered climate and increased rainfall alternating with milder, drier
intervening times. During these alternations, the locking up of water
in the form of ice lowered the sea surface to connect many continental
shelf islands such as Ceylon with the mainland. Our present climate of
relative warmth and unlocking of ice with rising seas has persisted for
approximately ten thousand years.
In terms of climatic history, India and the related components of
the Oriental Region have been stable for a very long time. The recent
ice ages of the Pleistocene may well have coincided with increased
rainfall or pluvial periods in the tropics. Greater humidity and accom-
panying cloud cover help to create cooler average temperatures. All
these conditions would suffice to lower temperatures sufficiently on
mountain ranges or highlands so that temporary avenues or highways
xlii ZOOGEOGRAPHY OF INDIAN SUBREGION
for mountain stepping-stone-hopping can be provided for species of
animals and plants adapted to cooler climates. Much of the spread
then of mountain-adapted or cool climate-adapted species into the
highlands of the tropical zones and their later isolation and evolution
in time into a radiating network of related species can be postulated
as a result of one’s knowledge of the changes in the climate cycles in
the Pleistocene. Thus geographical isolation could combine with small
climate changes to promote adaptive changes in species. Subsequent
climatic events bringing together former isolated populations a second
or third time would serve as the testing ground to determine if genetic
isolation had been achieved. If so, new species had been born in the
process.
One of the most noted current zoogeographers of India was the late
Dr Sunder Lai Hora of the Zoological Survey who developed an
important thesis of the distribution of torrential river fish. His Satpura
Hypothesis (1950) postulates that by middle Eocene times at the
beginning of the Recent or Cenozoic Era, the Himalayan mountains
began to erupt, rising up and starting the cutting off of the Tethys Sea.
This rising has been slow and continuous down through the Pleistocene.
South of the Himalayas in the northern Indian Peninsula volcanic
action occurred in late Cretaceous and early Eocene times covering
some 20,000 square miles of land with a thick series of volcanic layers
known as the Deccan traps. The result was that formerly continuously
distributed tropical climate species of plants, insects and vertebrates
became isolated in south India and Ceylon, separated from related
populations in eastern India and east to China. These upheavals,
traced by geologists, affected the drainage of rivers and the distribution
of related fish. Originally, peninsular Indian streams up to the Miocene
Epoch had drained north into the Sea of Tethys or its related river
systems. The Deccan explosives and the Himalayan rise turned penin-
sular Indian drainage systems to the east. Contemporary rivers of
southern China and southeast Asia changed their courses from east
to south and west enabling their fish species to reach Burma. Dr Hora
believed that these fish from southern China eventually populated
the Himalayas from the east, spreading very gradually westwards.
Fossils of the Pliocene Epoch just before the Pleistocene show that fish
species were becoming distributed west along the feeders of the great
river called by geologists the Indobrahm, which drained the enormous
marshes left by the disappearance of the Sea of Tethys.
South of the Indobrahm at the edge of the Deccan traps arose an
elevated scries of hills running from east to west from the southern edge
of the Himalayas in Bengal and Bihar nearly to the sea at Bombay.
Hora explained the distribution of the hill-stream fish along these
Satpura Hills from the eastern Himalayas to western peninsular India
and eventually gradually south to Kerala, and, in a few cases of related
ZOOGEOGRAPHY OF INDIAN SUBREGION xliu
forms of higher vertebrates and plants, aided by the climate cycles,
south into Ceylon.
By Pliocene times the Ganges system of today began to form, draining
the Himalayas and flowing south and east instead of west as had the
Indobrabm. A recent feature of this system has been the capture of the
Tsangpo, the eastward-flowing river of Tibet, through the penetration
by climatic erosion of the upper Assam gorges by the Brahmaputra,
a tributary of the Ganges system. Presumably the Brahmaputra did
not manage to erode its way north into the Tibetan gorges to capture
the Tsangpo, turning it away from the Yellow River and Yangtse
systems very recently. But in a relative sense it must have been rather
recently in the Pleistocene Epoch.
Even though much of this history is old, as far back as Pleistocene
or late Miocene times, the resulting evolution, the resulting patterns
of distribution of the avifauna of India as it is understood today, show
distinct traces of these events. Salim Ali (1949) has pointed out the
importance of the Satpura Hills as an ornithogeographical highway, as
has Ripley (1949).
In regard to the great marshes of late Pliocene time, aftermath of
the Sea of Tethys, it would appear that several bird species in their
peculiar evolution and adaptation mark the long persistence of this
phenomenon. They can be thought of as living relies of a past epoch.
The preference of these species is for marshes of large extent along the
remains of the system, the ‘ Indobrahm system ’. That they remain
today means only that the resulting river and marsh habitats have not
been too unsuitable, although one of the species has unfortunately
very likely become extinct in the last thirty years. This is the Pink-
headed Duck, Rkodonessa caryophyllacea , a relict species of the present
Ganges river drainage area (Ripley, 1953).
Two other species of local distribution in marshy areas in the central
and northwestern parts of the subcontinent are : 1 ) the Bristled Grass
Warbler, Chaetomis striatus, and 2) the Sind Jungle Sparrow, Passer
pyrrhonotus, the latter found as far west as eastern Iran.
Indian zoogeography shows evidence for two of the well-known
zoogeographic theories. The first of these is Gloger’s theory, which states
that in areas of increased humidity warm-blooded animals tend to have
darker surfaces than their immediate relatives living in drier areas.
Many species of birds and mammals which live in the forests along the
foot of the Himalayas, in the Western Ghats, or in Ceylon tend to
substantiate Gloger’s theory. Such small forest birds as partridges,
babblers, flycatchers, warblers and sunbirds have paler populations —
geographical subspecies so-called — living to the west in areas of decrea-
sed rainfall. Along the sweep of the Himalayas where the monsoon rains
fall more heavily in the east, east of eastern Nepal, this phenomenon
shows as a break, a discontinuity in the continuous gradual progression
xtyj ZOOGEOGRAPHY OF INDIAN SUBREGION
4) Bluewinged Pitta, Pitta moluccensis rrugarhyncka (868), tidal
forest and adjacent semi-evergreen forest in the Sunderbans of East
Pakistan.
5) Grey Thickhead or Mangrove Whistler, Pachycephda cinerea
(1470), Calcutta east through the Sunderbans, mostly in tidal forest,
but also inland in semi-evergreen forest; Andaman Islands.
6) Orangebellied Flowerpecker, Dicaeum trigonostigma (1898), tidal
forest in Sunderbans and adjacent semi-evergreen and moist deciduous
forest.
In addition certain hawks, eagles or rails may be found in tidal
forest but these species have a wider tolerance for a variety of conditions.
Related to the tidal forest in space and in food supply are the sea
beaches themselves, where characteristic migrant shore birds, gulls
and terns can be found. Some of these species prefer the open pure salt
water and adjacent beach, others the tidal mudflats and brackish
reaches of water, and many of these forms, particularly the terns, nest
in the mangroves. The Reef Herons, Egretta gularis schistacea and
Egretta sacra (50, 51), are found only on brackish or salt water,
along tidal mudflats or reefs, the Crab and Great Stone Plovers,
Dramas ardeola and Esacus magnirostris (434, 437, 438) are found only
on sea beaches, though the latter may occur on sandy river beds of
the largest rivers, an ersatz or substitute biotope as it were.
In contrast to the tidal forest zone, the birds of which show affinities
with species of Indonesia and the China coast — the Indochinese sub-
region as it has been termed by zoogcographers — consider for a
moment another zone which recalls the Somali arid zone of east
Africa. This is
B) Tropical Thorn Forest. This is a low open forest, characterized
by Acacia species, reaching 6-9 m. in height, desert-like Under-
growth with sparse grass, thick, woody weeds, succulents, a so-called
xcrophytic type of vegetation, mean temperature annually 25° C.,
reaching a maximum of c. 40° G., and a minimum of c. 4° C. The annual
rainfall varies from 48 to 76 cm. and is sometimes as low as c. 25 cm.
The soil is shallow, often alkaline. This zone occurs from sea levef to
c. 600 m. altitude. Thorn forest occurs in non-desert parts of West
Pakistan, south of the frost line, large parts of western India, in East
Punjab, Rajasthan, Kutch and Saurashtra and southwest Madhya
Pradesh running south in Maharashtra to East Khandesh, Auranga-
bad, south to northern Mysore and cast in Andhra to Guntur district;
also in the Jaffna area and other parts of northern Ceylon, Rames-
waram Island and the adjacent southeast Indian coast. In central
peninsular India the heart of this zone occurs in the Deccan plateau,
site of much of the Deccan trap rock-formations mentioned earlier.
The birds of this zone show distinct affinities with those of eastern
Africa as pointed out by Meinertzhagen (1951), and emphasize that
ZOOGEOGRAPHY OF INDIAN SUBREGION xlvii
Africa itself hftk been i centre of dispersal as shown by Moreau (1952)
and noted in one case by Husain (1958). Typical of these are:
1) Grey Partridge, Ftmcolims pmdkeriarm (244*246), West
Pakistan and India.
2) tilth or Lesser Fiorican, Sjpheotidesindka (357), tropical thorn,
scrub, grassland, and cultivation in southern West Pakistan and
western and central India.
3) Jerdon’s Courser, Cursorius bitorquatus (441), perhaps extinct,
Deccan tropical thorn forest.
4) The Bee-eaters have two species which suggest strongly a
preference for this zone, though their more wandering habits and wider
distribution make them less good examples. These are the Bluecheeked,
Merops superciliosus (747) which breeds in West Pakistan and India
and winters in Africa, and the Green, Merops orientalis (749-752),
which occurs in tropical thorn forest from Iran to Ceylon, although
one population of the species reaches Assam and Burma.
5) Two Finch-larks of the genus Eremopterix, namely grisea and
nigriceps t the Ashycrowned and the Blackcrowned (878, 879), are
Ethiopian in their affinities and live in thorn scrub and the edges
of desert in tropical thorn areas.
6) Sykes’s Crested Lark, Galerida deva (902), is found in parts
of northern India and the Deccan on rather dark soils.
7) Yellowthroated Bulbul, Pycnonotus xantholaemus (1135), penin-
sular India, perhaps ranging too high in altitude to be completely
in this zone.
8) Common Babbler, Turdoides caudatus and its relatives. Large
Grey Babbler, T. malcolmi, and Whiteheaded Babbler, T. affinis
(1253, 1254, 1258, 1267, 1268), West Pakistan, peninsular and
northern India and Ceylon.
9) Rufousfronted Longtail Warbler, Prirtia buchamni (1506),
West Pakistan and northern and central India to the Deccan.
10) Three of the Whitethroats, the Lesser, Sylvia curruea, the
Small, S. minula , and Hume’s Lesser, S. althaea (1567, 1569, 1570),
breed or winter in tropical thorn forest in West Pakistan and India.
11) Two of the Leaf Warblers, the Brown or Chiffchaff in its
Indian subspecies, and the Plain, Phylloscopus colly bita dndiasw and
P. neglectus (1576, 1577), occupy this habitat in West Pakistan and
northern India.
12) Brown Rock Chat, Geremek fusca (1692), West Pakistan
and northern India.
13) Whitewinged Black Tit, Pams nuchalis (1798), India.
14) The Spanish Sparrow, Passer hispaniolensis (1940), winters
in tropical thorn forest. Some other sparrows have ranges suggestive
of a preference for the tropical thorn biotope, but have spread out
into cultivation or into reed-beds and tamarisk groves.
xlviii ZOOGEOGRAPHY OF INDIAN SUBREGION
With the exception of the warblers, virtually aU of these species
are related most closely to Ethiopian ( — African in the zoogeographical
sense) species, suggesting an origin from a former continuously distri-
buted population or a common ancestor in some form.
As was pointed out in more detail in the Synopsis, there are certainly
176 endemic (local) species of Indian birds (confined to the zoogeogra-
phic subregion of the Indian Peninsula and its environs) and of these
the following affinities appear:
(1) (a) related to Palaearctic species (i.e. Europe and Asia)
number 30 Percentage of total 17
( b ) questionable, perhaps Palaearctic
2 1
(2) related to Indochinese (i.e. SE. Asian species)
109 62
(3) (a) related to Ethiopian species
30 17
(b) questionable, perhaps Ethiopian
1 1
(4) relict species, discussed earlier (Pinkheaded Duck etc.)
4 2
Thus the overwhelming proportion of Indian bird species are
related to species of the eastern, tropical Orient, with almost an equal
minor share being related proportionally either to African or to
European-northern Asian (Palaearctic) species. This is important as a
principle of Indian ornithobiography. The Himalayas have served
as a barrier, encouraging the spread of tropical, Indochinese-related
bird species into the Indian habitat, preventing the invasion of
Eurasian-related species as much more than winter migrants. The
entomological and botanical evidence, such as it is, suggests that in
spite of glaciation in the Himalayas during the Pleistocene, climatically
conditions were not too severe and that indeed the southern flanks of
the mountains served as a refugium for relict species related to cold-
climate adapted northern species, rather than serving as a continuous
chain of contact along which dominant northern species could infiltrate.
The habitats to the south of the Himalayas thus being continuously
occupied, very few invaders could wage successful competition or find
empty niches and room to spread out.
India’s avifauna is one of the most interesting in the world and
provides ample opportunity for further significant research in zoogeo-
graphy and its related aspects of ecology.
SYSTEMATICS OF BIRDS OF THE INDIAN SUBREGION
Birds from the * Indies the areas now encompassed by Pakistan,
India, Ceylon and east to Java, have been known to zoologists for as
long as there has been an organized science of zoology. Travellers and
explorers of both the eastern and the western worlds have collected
colourful birds from the countries which they visited since the chroni-
cles of these travels have existed. These creatures, brought back to the
courts of emperors and kings, inspired wonderment as well as scientific
curiosity. Attempts to list the products of nature are apparently a
natural phenomenon of man’s orderly and tidy mind. Man is instinc-
tively an arranger. Subjectively man strives to create a rational order
out of what otherwise he assumes to be chaos. Religion demands it.
Science requires it.
The literature of these attempts at organization is classical, extending
back to the philosophers, Hippocrates, Aristotle and Plato, at least to
the fifth century b.g. Systematics, or taxonomy as it is often inter-
changeably called, is the science of classification of animals. It is built
up out of the basic study of the anatomy or morphology of an animal,
as well as its physiology, or the living interactions of the organ systems
and structure of the animal. Modern taxonomy also includes a com-
pilation of evidence obtained from genetics, the study of the breeding
of animals including the cellular phenomena associated with the union
of components from egg and sperm. An additional requirement is a
knowledge of the environment and its effect upon animals, or ecology,
as that study is called, as well as environmental and animal history
derived from the study of geology. Thus a modern taxonomist becomes
perforce an evolutionist, and an evolutionist should properly be one
of the most widely trained of all zoologists, proficient in genetics,
morphology, zoogeography, systematics, embryology, physiology,
ecology and palaeontology.
Present-day systematics developed in the eighteenth century with the
attempts to create ‘ systems ’ of nature. A number of authors such as
John Ray (1627-1705) pioneered attempts to characterize the genus,
or genos, and species, or eidos, of Aristotle, but it is the Swedish
naturalist, Carolus Linnaeus (1707-78), who laid the foundation of
systematic zoology. The tenth edition of his Systma Naturae (1758) is
considered the fundamental work and the date, the foundation date
for species names. Each animal then known to the scientific world
could be given, under the Linnaean concept, a binomial name: Genus,
a name including all forms considered to be related to one another,
and Species, the distinctive or specific name which in a sense separated
that animal from all others. All ducks belonged to the genus Anas for
xlix
1 SYSTEMATICS OF BIRDS OF INDIAN SUBREGION
example, and the different ducks had different specific names, acuta
for the pintail, crecca for the common teal, penelope for the wigeon,
ferina for the common pochard or diving duck. Above these categories
was the Order, and above this of course the Class, which in the case of
birds, involved all birds in one animal class, aves. The great merit
of the Linnaean volume is that the class and the orders and genera are
characterized by keys, groups of characters which give them uniqueness
and distinction one from the other.
This arrangement then, this attempt at the creation of order from
chaos, immediately won general recognition and has persisted down to
the present. Subsequent modifications of the system have derived more
from man’s understanding of the evolutionary process and the resultant
interpretation of what i§> meant, than from any tampering with the
mechanics. In essence the philosophy of arrangement has changed
with the influence on scientific thought of the Darwinian school of
evolutionists. In Linnaeus’s concept, each specie's was a distinct act of
Creation, immutable and set apart. The Lord had created the world
and all that lay within it in six days and on the seventh he rested.
Darwin and related scientists of the mid-nineteenth century were able
to show that species were not immutable, that changes occurred dating
back through the panorama of geologic time and continuing on into
the present and future. Species could arise out of other species, by a
process involving physical isolation and the gradual accretion of small
differences.
Over the years the acceptance of a dynamic rather than a static
concept for species formation broadened and modified systematics.
As knowledge of a wide spectrum of variations in populations of
biological species increased, new terms came to be used for these
differences. Linnaeus himself used the word c variety ’ to describe a
specimen that appeared to be atypical. Later nineteenth-century
authors like Kleinschmidt began to use the word ‘ race \ Gradually
the concept began to be refined as it became generally understood
that, what scientists were trying to characterize were not individuals,
aberrations that is to say, individual variants, but rather groups or
populations all members of which, in interaction with each other, were
expressing an evolutionary trend. Thus the concept of subspecies was
evolved. The definition of this category was not really refined until the
twentieth century when a number of authors particularly in
ornithology, such as Rensch and Mayr, reached a consensus. Two great
principles are involved here. The names typifying these evolutionary
categories are applied to a type specimen certainly, but they refer to an
interbreeding population of common genetic inheritance. In addition
a subspecies must have some geographic locus and some complex of
external mechanisms which allow it to maintain genetic isolation. A
subspecies must also have some essentially morphological characters
SYSTEMATICS OF BIRDS OF INDIAN SUBREGION li
in order to allow it to be recognizable. Morphological rather than
physiological or behavioural characters are still more acceptable to
taxonomists than any others as they are more feasibly preserved in
specimens.
All of this history of description and characterization of species
has resulted in an elaborate series of rules of nomenclature over which
systematic biologists have laboured for many years. The rules, after
meetings and international congresses, eventually become codified
into a Code for Zoological or Botanical Nomenclature. The latest
official International Code of Zoological Nomenclature was published
in 1961, reissued with some amendments and corrections in 1964 and
will undoubtedly be reissued again and yet again. For it has become
apparent over the past fifty years that man approaches his own attempts
at systematizing the affairs of nature in an essentially subjective
manner. Science has not yet afforded us visions of illimitable truth.
Many of the essential facts of nature still elude us, and so even man’s
rules for order and precedence are finite. At least in the meantime we
reach towards stability as we attempt to order nature.
The first bird from India to reside in the stable nomenclature of
Linnaeus in 1758 was the Brown Shrike, Lanius cristatus, which appears
on page 93 of Sjystema Naturae , the 10th edition, and is described thus:
having a ‘ wedge-shaped tail a ‘ crested head ’, a ‘ reddish body *
etc. and, as with all proper names a type localitv must be supplied,
in this case 4 Benghala ’ or Bengal. There is a citation to an illustration,
plate 54, in George Edwards’s volumes, published 1743-51, A Natural
History of Birds . And so the type was established, a specimen figured in a
published book and with a locality. The second species from
‘Benghala’, named by Linnaeus on page 95, is Lanius caerulescens,
which is also illustrated in Edwards and which is now understood to be
the Whitebellicd Drongo, Dicrums caerulescens , belouging to a different
family. Linnaeus’s name as author is suffixed to both Lanius aistatus
and Lanius caerulescens when these names arc used formally in citations
in ornithological literature. But for the second bird it is placed in
parentheses, as Dicrurus caerulescens (Linnaeus), to express the fact that
the genus name has been changed or shifted subsequent to Linnaeus’s
original description of the species.
The third mention of Bengal in Linnaeus is Psittacus alexandri , whose
habitat was said to be ‘ China, Benghala, Aethiopia named after
Alexander the Great, through whose expeditions the Redbreasted
Parakeet had come to the notice of Pliny. The type of the species has
subsequently been restricted to Java. Subsequently a larger sub-
species has been recognized as occurring on the Asian mainland. A
name for this was available, fasciata of P. L. S. Muller, 1776. Conse-
quently when subspecies are arranged in linear form, the parakeet of
Hi S YSTEMATICS OF BIRDS OF INDIAN SUBREGION
India becomes Psittacula alexandri fasciata (P. L. S. Muller) 1 , and
PsiUacula alexandri alexandri (Linnaeus) is found in parts of Indonesia,
the type locality being Java. And so zoology proceeded apace* Thomas
Pennant’s Indian Z°°t°gy 1791 (1790), incorporating the work of J. R*
Forster and Loten’s notes on new birds of south India and Ceylon, was
succeeded by the really masterful work of T. C. Jerdon, whose Birds
of India , 1862-4 in three volumes, was the first thorough work on the
subcontinent.
Allan O. Hume added greatly to Jerdon’s work by expanding the
areas covered, particularly in the east in Assam and East Pakistan and
describing many new birds for science. He also prepared the first
checklist, in 1879, taken from Volume VIII of the random journal
Stray Feathers , which he had organized and published himself. Hume’s
list included Pakistan, India, Ceylon and Burma east to northern
Malaya, and comprised over 1700 species. He attempted to codify
the rules of nomenclature as involving birds of the area by using the
rules for nomenclature adopted at a meeting of the British Association
in 1842. Wisdom was not infinite even then.
Hume says (p. 7): ‘ I say “ based on the Code ” because it must be
clearly understood that I am not prepared to re-argue points definitely
settled by that Code. I do not personally agree with many of its dicta ,
but I consider uniformity of such paramount importance as to render it
the plain duty of every British naturalist to abide strictly by all its
dicta' Worthy ambition indeed; the Code is still venerated, but still
manages to alter itself occasionally.
Oates and Blanford’s great Handbook volumes of 1889-98 again
included Burma, and again, like all preceding volumes, dealt only
with the classification of birds down to the species level. It remained
for E. C. Stuart Baker first to add subspecies names, or trinomials as
they are sometimes called, to the Indian subregion avifauna. In this
he followed Ernst Hartert, whose fundamental Vogel der paldarktischen
Fauna , of 1910-22, reflected much of that changing philosophy of syste-
matics which had been evolving since the close of the nineteenth century.
The ideas, essentially held in America and in Germany at this time,
produced the present concept of the polytypic species, a species consist-
ing of a group of populations, closely related to each other, separated
only by geographic boundaries, which could presumably interbreed
should the barriers separating them break down, and which were far
more closely related among themselves than in the case of' any other
separate species. At first these ideas presented considerable difficulty
but by 1910 Hartert had been won over, and by 1920, Baker’s Hand-
list of the Birds of the Indian Empire had begun to appear in serial
parts in the Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society . This nomen-
1 The author’s initials are used in some cases as in this, because several M tillers have
written on zoology.
SYSTEMATICS OF BIRDS OF INDIAN SUBREGION liii
clature has continued to the present day, with minor variations. The
greatest changes perhaps appear^ between the publication of Baker’s
handbook, The Fauna of British India including Ceylon and Burma* 1922-30,
and the publication of A Synopsis of the Birds of India and Pakistan together
with those of Nepal , Sikkim , Bhutan and Ceylon in 1961, As one of us
(Ripley) said in the Introduction to that volume, ‘ It is perhaps un-
fortunate but true that no such listing as this or Baker’s earlier work is
ever final \ We can only attempt to fill in additional small gaps
in the nomenclatorial picture, at the subspecific level for the most
part in systematics, or in chinks or wider gaps in the understanding of
the habits of birds themselves as living things.
Naturalists, environmental biologists, epidemiologists and others
including amateur bird-watchers, all tend to be highly impatient of
changes in the nomenclature of birds or related vertebrates as they
know them. Systematists in ornithology are particularly liable to attack
if changes in established or current bird scientific names are made as a
result of evolutionary study. There is a good deal to be said on both
sides. On the one hand the users of names want stability and a sense
of ultimate finality to be maintained at ail costs. On the other,
evolutionists, with whom some ecologists are today beginning to be
aligned, are continually seeking for the truth of the phenomena of
evolution. If in the process of delineating living and organic processes,
nomenclatorial stability suffers, then suffer it must. Both sides deplore
pedantic name-shuffiers who collect scientific names of organisms like
postage stamps and are said to extract personal prestige therefrom.
These days actually would seem to be gone for ever in ornithology.
Only rational trained biologists tend to be concerned with systematics
nowadays, and in certain areas such as botany and entomology, alpha
taxonomy, or the mere descriptions of natural living objects, is still a
responsibility of paramount importance. In birds certainly there are
few surprises around the corner. New species may continue to be found
at a diminishing rate in remote corners of the globe and a few new
subspecies may turn up almost anywhere. But where they do, and where
they are described as new , it is for a secondary reason, an attempt to
express reality, to show that organic processes are occurring around the
clock at an appreciable rate and that change is the order of the day.
Two of the most recent subspecies of birds of our subregion have
been described in i960: Chalcophaps indica salimalii Mukherjee, and
Ardeola grayii phillipsi Scheer. Additional subspecies from islands of the
Bay of Bengal may appear shortly,
A more depressing corollary to our changing world is that subspecies
as well as species are probably disappearing today at an accelerated
rate. In some areas, particularly in the tropics, and particularly in
plants and in such classes of animals as the invertebrates, many of these
species and subspecies may disappear before they have even been
liv SYSTEMATICS OF BIRDS OF INDIAN SUBREGION
described as new to science, leaving no ascertainable ripple in man’s
time to mark their passing. Only the world’s pool of genetic recombi-
nation is deprived here, not man’s recording of it by ascribed names.
Let us hope that biologists of the future will not know many
species of the great subcontinent of southern Asia only by names as
we today, by accident, commemorate the lost Dodo of Mauritius or
the Solitaire. For all that they have gone, they were seen by knowing
men, recorded, and their bony remnants described. In India the Pink-
headed Duck was described as locally tolerably common in Oates and
Blanford’s day; as ‘ most shy and secretive ’ by Baker thirty-one years
later; and as probably extinct by ourselves thirty-six years later still.
And so in two generations, within the lifetime of many people, one of
the most curious species of birds in the world has vanished. ‘ What’s
in a name ? ’ indeed. Meanwhile the science and order of systematics
continues, a service, a function to those who would use it knowledge-
ably, an attempt to delineate forces of nature in progress both now and
in statu nascendi.
GLOSSARY OF TERMS FOR PHYSICAL UNITS
particularly as used in this book
bh&bar The zone or belt of alluvial loamy soil stretching along the northern
edge of the dun or terai and up to c. 600 metres in the Himalayan foot-
hills, from Kumaon in Uttar Pradesh to Assam (known as duar in
northern Bengal and Assam). Supports a type of high dense forest usually
containing s&l ( Shorea robusta), sheesham ( Dalbergia sissoo), and simul
(Salmalia malabarica ).
biotope A broad physiographical unit epitomizing the interaction of diverse
physical factors, chiefly temperature, rainfall, and humidity. Examples:
Evergreen biotope, Desert biotope.
dufir The easternmost section of the bhabar found in northern West Bengal,
Bhutan, and adjacent Upper Assam.
dun Hummocky broken country, often broad valleys within the outer ranges
of the Himalayas, that in some sections intervenes between the bhabar
and terai.
facies A smaller but easily recognized division of a biotope, e.g. the Sandy
facies, or Rocky facies, of Desert biotope.
jheel A shallow lake in a low-lying natural depression produced by rain or
floods, or spillage from a river, usually with floating and underwater
vegetation and leed-beds, and partially submerged trees.
mohalla A special quarter of a town or village where different communities or
professional groups live in virtual segregation, such as harijans, silver-
smiths, and bead-sellers.
nullah Watercourse or ravine, usually dry. In Hindi, nala*
shola A patch of montane evergreen wet temperate forest, usually in a sheltered
nullah or hill stream valley amongst rolling grassy hills (or downs),
from c . 1500 metres up, in South India and Ceylon.
terai The undulating alluvial, often marshy, strip of country stretching along
the southern edge of the bhabar and dun south to the Gangclic Plain.
The terai extends through U.P., Nepal, and northern W. Bengal to
Assam. It supports ‘ seas * of tall elephant grass interspersed with tracts
of dense forest. Large parts of it have now been cleared and drained for
cultivation. 1
1 The descending order in which the different zones occur is: Himalayan foothills
bhabar (or duars) -> dun — >• terai Gangetic Plain.
lv
Terms used in the
Description of a bird’s
Plumage & Parts
1 Nostril
2 Culrnen (‘ bill from feathers * in
14 3 Forehead this book)
4 Grown
UPPER WING
o IN ape
7 Kar-coverts
8 Hindncck
9 Chin
10 Lores
1 1 Throat
12 Sides of neck
13 Back
14 Scapulars
15 Rump
16 Upper tail-coverts
17 Tail (Rcctrices)
18 Under tail-coverts
19 Secondaries! (Remigcs or
20 Primaries /Flight feathers)
2 1 Lesser wing-coverts
22 Median ,,
23 Greater „
24 Bastard wing (Alula)
25 Breast
26 Tibia
27 Tarsus
28 Inner toe
29 Middle toe
30 Outer toe
31 Hind toe (Hallux)
32 Under wing-coverts
33 Axillaries
UNDER WING
ABBREVIATIONS
Bull. BOG
FBI
J. Om.
JBNHS
PZS
SF
SZ
Bulletin of the British Ornithologists 9 Club
Fauna of British India* Birds
Journal fur Omithologie , Berlin
Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society
Proceedings of the Zoological Society 9 London
Stray Feathers
Spolia Zeylauica
Abbreviated references to persons frequently
quoted
Abdulali or HA
Humayun Abdulali
Alexander
W. B. Alexander
Amadon
Dean Amadou
Baker
E. G. Stuart Baker
Biswas or BB
Biswamoy Biswas
Delacour
Jean Delacour
Donald
C. H. Donald
Gibson-I Jill
G. A. Gibson-Hili
Hartert
Ernst Hartert
Hume
A. O. Hume
Inglis
C. M. Inglis
Jerdon
T. C. Jerdon
Jones
A. E. Jones
Degge
Col, W. Vincent Legge
Lxxdlow
Frank Ludlow
Magrath
Major II. A. F. Magrath
Marshall
Cols. G. H. T. & Ci. F. L. Marshall
Mayr
Ernst Mayr
Me i n ert z h agen
Col. R. Meinertzhagen
Murphy
R. G. Murphy
Osmaston or BBO
B. B. Osmaston
Peters
J. L.. Peters
Phillips
W. W. A. Phillips
Ripley or SDR
S. Dillon Ripley
S&lim Ali or SA
Salim Ali
Scully
John Scully
Stevens
Herbert Stevens
Strcsemann
Erwin Strescmann
Ticehurst or CBT
Claud B. Ticehurst
Whistler or HW
Hugh Whistler
Whitehead
Lt C. II. T. Whitehead
Iviii
Order Gaviiformes
Family Gaviidae: Divers, Loom
Aquatic birds superficially like grebes but differing in a number of characters
and probably not very closely related to them. Toes fully webbed like duck’s, not
lobcd or scalloped. Wing of 1 1 primaries, the outermost minute. Rcctrices 18 or 20,
short but well developed. Plumage dense, compact and rather harsh, not silky as
in grebes. Tarsi reticulate, laterally compressed. Legs short and set far back, almost
at end. Wings short, narrow, and tapering; set well back as in a Boeing jet plane.
Sexes alike.
For other anatomical characters see Stresemann 1927-34, Aves : 779-80 ;
Witherby et al 1940, 4:111; Palmer 1962, 1 : 20.
Genus Gavia J. R. Forster
Gavia J. R. Forster, 1788, Enchrid. Hist. Nat.: 38. Type, by subsequent designation,
Coly mbits Immer Brunnich
Characters as of the Family. Genus northern Holarctic.
Key to the Species
Page
A Bill straight 1
B Bill upturned 2
1 Upperparts uniformly dark G. arctica (winter) 1
Uppcrparts ‘scaly* G. arctica (juvenal) l
2 Upperparts sprinkled with white spots G. stdlata (winter) 2
1 . Blackthroated Diver. Gavia arctica suschkini (Zarudny)
Urinator arcticus suschkini Zarudny, 1912, Orn. Mitt. 3:11 (Russian Turkestan)
Baker, FBI No. 2293, Vol. 6: 483
local names. None recorded.
size. Domestic duck±; length c. 65 cm. (25 in.).
field characters. A practically tailless aquatic bird, in winter dark
grey above white below without black throat. Pointed straight bill. Overall
aspect that of Little Grebe or Dabchick, but much larger and heavier.
Neck stouter and proportionately shorter than grebe’s. Gonfusable only
with the commoner Crested Grebe, but larger size, stouter neck, and absence
of ruff of elongated feathers below head diagnostic. Sexes alike.
status, distribution and habitat. A rare vagrant in winter. Only
once recorded: a single specimen on flooded land bordering the W. Jumna
Canal at Jagadhri, Ambala District, Punjab — 19 February 1922 (A. E.
Jones 1922, JBNHS 28: 1134).
Extralimital . Breeding from the Ural Mts to Lake Baikal and the
Yenisey, Turkestan, and Kirghiz Steppes.
migration. ?
i
1
2
FODICIPEDIFORMES
general habits. Swims low, often only with the head showing. Rises
from water with effort, running long distances on surface with quick-
flapping short wings, but is a swift and powerful flier once air-borne.
Hunchbacked merganser-like profile in flight with legs projecting
behind distinctive. Hits water with chest when landing; cannot take off from
dry land. Expert deep-water diver and submarine swimmer, using feet
as propellers and wings to turn and twist. Keeps to inland lakes.
food. Mainly fish.
voice and calls. ?
breeding . Extralimi tal .
Museum Diagnosis. For plumage etc. see Witherby ci aL 1940, 4: 119. This race,
suschkini, differs only in details from the nominate race there described.
The Ambala specimen, a first-year female, had a wing measuring 290 mm.
Hartcrt (1920: 14G1) gives the wing measurements of this race as 291-337 mm.
[2. The Redthroated Diver, Gavia stellala (Pontoppidan), has been
recorded once from the Makran Coast (Baker 1931, 8: 703). It conceivably
may occur again as a vagrant in West Pakistan.]
Order Podicipe diformes
Family Podigipitidae: Grebes
Aquatic birds with soft rudimentary tail, very small wings, and compressed
sharply pointed bill. Legs placed far back, especially adapted for swimming and
diving. Tarsi scutellated in front, laterally compressed. Front toes with broad lateral
vane like lobes. Hind toe small, raised, vertically lobed. Nails broad and flattened.
Plumage dense and silky. Primaries 12, the 1st from the outside ( — ascendant)
being rudimentary. Sexes alike. Downy young boldly striped blackish and white.
For further anatomical details see Witherby et aL 1940, 4: 84; Stresemann 1927-34
Aves: 780-82; Palmer 1962, 1 : 62.
Genus Podiceps Latham
Podiccps Latham, 1787, Gen. Syn. Bds., Suppl., 1: 294. Type, by subsequent
designation, Colymbus cristatus Linnaeus
Characters as of the Family. Genus cosmopolitan; represented within our limits
by three species.
Key to the Species
A Size of duck (c. 50-60 cm. = 1 9 • 5-23 • 5 in.) 1
B Smaller than duck (c. 23-35 cm. =9-13 in.) 2
1 Long slender neck with straight bill, head ornamented with backward
pointing tufts above and a frill or ruff of black chestnut feathers below
P. cristatus (breeding)
Head ornamentation reduced or lacking, white above eye conspicuous,
bill pinkish P. cristatus (winter)
Page
3
3
GREBES 3
Page
2 Needle-like hill with slightly upturned appearance * ...» a
Bill rather thick and straight b
a Head and neck black, tufts of golden brown feathers on sides of
head , P* nigricollis (breeding) 5
Head and neck dark greyish black; white of throat extending
around nape P • nigricollis (winter) 5
b Cheeks and lower throat chestnut, cap and back of neck greyish
black, upper throat black P. ruficollis (breeding) 6
Sides of head and foreneck pale rufous, cap darker, upper throat
white * P. ruficollis (winter) 6
3. Great Crested Grebe, Podiceps cristatus cristatus (Linnaeus)
Colymbus cristatus Linnaeus, 1758, Syst. Nat., ed. 10, 1 ; 35 (Sweden)
Baker, FBI No. 2290, Vol. 6: 477
Plate 1, fig. 9, facing p. 16
local name. Shiva-hnns (Assam).
size. Domestic duck — ; length c. 50 cm. ( c . 19 in.).
field characters. A tailless aquatic: bird dark greyish brown above,
silky white below, with slender longish neck and pointed bill. Two up-
standing, backwardly directed blackish ear-tufts above head and a frill or
ruff (looking like puffed-out throat) of chestnut-and-black elongated
feathers below the head, conspicuous
and diagnostic; less developed in
female than male. In winter (non-
breeding plumage) these ‘ ears *
much reduced; in young birds ab-
sent. A white wing patch (second-
aries) and white leading edge of wing
concealed at rest, conspicuous in
flight, when humpbacked profile is
reminiscent of Merganser. Sexes
alike. Singly, pairs, and small scat-
tered parties on jhcels and littoral
waters.
STATUS, DISTRIBUTION and HABITAT.
Winter visitor in small numbers to
northern India from Sind (where it
is commoner at sea along the coast)
to NE. Assam and Manipur; south
to Gujarat on the west (Kutch, Por-
bandar, Jasdan, Viramgam, Bhavnagar), and Orissa on the east (near
Puri — sight record, H. G. Alexander). Affects jheels and littoral waters.
ExtralimitaL The Palaearctic Region — Europe to China and Japan,
south to our limits in Ladakh, Kashmir, and possibly Nepal.
migration. No specific information.
general habits. Usually seen in separated pairs or scattered parties
on vegetation-covered reed-bordered jheels swimming about with neck
4
PODICIPEDIFORMES
erect. When alarmed, disappears smoothly or with a little leap and swims
away under water; surfaces then dives again, and so on till it gains the
safety of distance and open water. Is loth to fly, rising with effort, pattering
along the surface for long stretches, half running half flying till airborne.
But is capable of covering long distances on migration or when shifting from
one jheel to another. Flight swift though seemingly laboured, with rapid
flaps of the short wings. Seldom seen on land, where the backwardly placed
legs enable it merely to shuffle along clumsily with breast on ground. Court-
ship display, first described by J. S. Huxley (1914, PZS: 491-562), consists
of the pair facing each other with rigid neck, ear-tufts erect and ruff ex-
panded, both birds diving and coming up with water weeds in their bills,
suddenly rising upright breast to breast and swaying — and variations
of tills theme.
food. Fish, tadpoles, frogs, water insects, etc., with some vegetable
matter. Stomachs of three specimens collected by Meincrtzliagen in Ladakh
contained exclusively freshwater shrimps ( Gammarus ). A quantity of feathers
has frequently been reported among the stomach contents.
voice and calls. Described as a harsh krek-krek and a variety of dis-
cordant barks and shrill trumpeting expressive of different emotions.
breeding. Within our limits recorded from Khushdil Khan lake in
Baluchistan (alt. c. 1750 in.) and from the high-elevation lake Tso Kar
in Rupshu, Ladakh (alt. r. 5200 m.). In W. Tibet SA found it nesting on
Ding Tso lake (alt. c. 5300 m.) NE. of Manasarovar. Season , chiefly June
to August, Nest, a conspicuous mass of water weeds r. 45 to 60 cm. in dia-
meter with a depression in the middle, on floating mounds of grass and
rubbish 20 to 100 metres from the bank, loosely anchored to growing
weeds. Often clusters of several nests together, from a few metres apart
to almost touching one another. Eggs , 3 to 5, very pale sea-green with
an overlay of chalky white calcium deposit, usually becoming stained
brown by contact with the soggy nest. Fourteen eggs taken by Ludlow on
the Kala Tso in Tibet average 54-50 x 25*00 mm. Compared with the
average size of 100 British-taken eggs as given by Witherby (54-8 x
36*7 mm.) they are considerably narrower. Both parents incubate. Ludlow
observed that the male frequently sat on the nest alongside of the brooding
female. The incubation period is recorded as 28 days. When leaving the
nest to feed, or on alarm, the sitting bird usually covers up the eggs with
loose nest material.
From the fact that a few pairs may usually be seen on the great swamps
north of the Brahmaputra river in Assam during the breeding season every
year, Baker (1932-5, 4: 518) surmises that they breed there sporadically
and maybe even regularly. Bulkley (JBNHS 6: 501) found a nest near
Kharaghoda, Gujarat, in August 1891, and there is some indirect evidence
that odd pairs may also breed irregularly in Gujarat and Saurashtra.
Museum Diagnosis. For description of plumages etc, see Witherby 1940, 4: 91.
measurements. Three specimens collected by Meinertzhagen in Ladakh measure:
Wing Bill
(from feathers)
43, 45 mm.
41 mm.
2 <?<?
1 9
202, 203
192
GREBES
5
Baker, loc. cit., gives range for 9 W, 176-211 ; Culm. 45-53; Tar. 52-64 mm.
colours of barb parts. * Iris carmine-red, crimson with a narrow inner ring of
orange, or orange with an inner ring of pale yellow; bill dark brown, the tip paler and
slaty grey, the extreme base suffused with crimson, obsolete in winter; legs and feet
olive green externally, yellowish-green inside: webs yellowish, the nails bluish.’
4. Blacknecked Grebe* Podiceps nigricollis nigricollis Brehm
Podiceps nigricollis Brehm, 1831, Handb. Naturg. Vog. Deutschl.: 963 (E. Germany)
Baker, FBI No. 2291, Vol. 6: 480
LOCAL NAMES. Unrecorded.
size. Dabchick +; length c . 33 cm. (13 in.).
field characters. Distinguished from the familiar Dabchick or Little
Grebe in winter by larger size and the silvery white flanks, flashing in good
light. Sexes alike.
Winter plumage, X c. £
Adult (winter). Above , dark brown with darker (blackish) cap to
below eyes. Below y chin and throat mixed black and white, foreneck dark
brown, rest of underparts white. No dusky brown on flanks. Bill slender,
pointed, slightly uptilted in profile. In summer plumage has black head
and neck and lengthened rufous-golden feather tuft from below eye.
status, distribution and habitat. Uncommon winter visitor, sporadi-
cally recorded in Baluchistan (nr. Quetta), Sind (Karachi, Makran Coast
littoral, Manchar Lake), Punjab (BahawaJpur), Uttar Pradesh (Pyagpur),
Maharashtra (near Poona) , Possibly occurs more generally in northern India
than is identified. Recently (winter 1964-5) reported on Khabakki lake,
W. Pakistan Salt Range, in gatherings of 300 to 600 individuals, vastly
outnumbering Podiceps ruficollis (C. D. W. Savage, in episL ). On duck-
shooting jheels.
Extralimital. Breeds in the Palaearctic Region from Europe to China
and Japan, south to Turkestan.
MIGRATION. ?
general habits. Frequents reed-bordered jheels with floating vegetation
interspersed with expanses of open water, in company with dabchicks.
Prefers reedbeds in the shallows to open water, and is inclined to segregation.
Otherwise very similar to the dabchick.
6
PODICIPEDIFORMES
food. Fish, tadpoles, shrimps, aquatic insects, etc., with which a
quantity of feathers (its own?) is usually taken.
voice and caxas. Unrecorded in India.
breeding. Within our limits recorded only from Baluchistan (Khushdil
Khan lake near Quetta) where Meinertzhagen found over 70 nests with
eggs on 20 June 1913. Season, June-July, Nest, a floating pad of weed
stalks, r. 37-43 cm. across, firmly attached to the bottom as shown by all
the above nests drowning on rise of water level in flood. Sited in reedbeds,
not open water as with Crested Grebe. Eggs , 3-5, like the latter’s but smaller.
Average size c, 44 X 32 mm. Both parents brood. Incubation period recorded
as 19-20 days. Small striped downy young often carried on swimming
parent’s back, cradled between slightly raised wings, sometimes even when
parent dives. Newly hashed young often nestled in fluffy plumage of back
of incubating parent to keep away from soggy nest, and fed by other parent
in this position (W. Wiist, J. Orn., 1934: 311-18).
Museum Diagnosis. For description of plumages etc. see Witherby 1940, 4: 105-6.
MEASUREMENTS
Wing Bill Tarsus
(from feathers)
9 123-137 39-43 r. 20-26, generally 2 1- 24 mm.
(Baker)
Wing of a c? from Poona in BNHS Coll. 142 mm.
colours of bare parts. Iris reddish brown to orange-pink with silvery inner
ring round pupil. Bare loral skin, brownish flesh. Bill bluish plumbeous, black on
ridge of oilmen, whitish at tip. Legs and feet blackish and greenish to bluish.
miscellaneous. Longevity (from ringing data) 6+ years (Ring, 1962,
33: 148).
5. Little Grebe or Dabchick. Podiceps ruficollis capensis Salvador!
Podiceps capensis Salvadori, 1884, Ann. Mus. Civ. Genova (2), I: 252 (Shoa, Africa)
Baker, FBI No, 2292, Vol. 6: 481
Plate 1, fig. 10, facing p. 16
local names. Pdndubi, Pdnliri , Dubdiibi , Chur aka (Hindi); Duhdubi , Pdndubi,
Duburi (Bengal) ; Munu-gudi-kodi (Telugu) ; Mukkulippdn (Tamil) ; Tubino (Sind) ;
Find (Kashmir).
size. Tailless pigeon length c. 23 cm. (9 in.).
field characters. A small squat tailless aquatic bird with short pointed
bill and backwardly placed legs specially adapted for swimming and
diving. Rides on the water with rear end raised and fluffed out producing
a bluntly rounded effect.
Adult. Above, dark brown, the crown darker; sides of head, throat
and neck chestnut. Below, silky smoky white with the flanks dusky brown
(contra P. n. nigricollis). A white patch on wing (secondaries) conspicuous
only in flight. Base of bill and swollen fleshy gape yellowish green, promi-
nent. In non-breeding plumage, mostly in winter, a drab brown bird with
whitish chin, pale rufous neck and whitish underparts. Sexes alike.
status, distribution and habitat. Chiefly resident, but shifting locally
and long distances dependent on drought and flood. Part of populations
GREBES
7
possibly also migratory. Common throughout the Indian subcontinent,
east to Assam and Manipur, south into Ceylon, from the plains to c. 1800 m.
altitude (in Kashmir). Absent in the Andaman and Nicobar islands.
Frequents all types of inland waters with or without floating vegetation or
reeds — irrigation reservoirs, village tanks, ponds, moats of ancient forts,
etc., even flooded roadside ditches and borrow-pits. Hardly ever rivers
or the sea.
X c. 1
Extralimital. Our race capensis occurs in much of N. Africa, Madagascar
Middle East, and SE. Asia.
migration. Unknown, but an exhausted specimen picked up on Jakko
Hill, Simla (c. 1500 m.) — quite out of its normal range — on 17 September
1942 (A. E. Jones, JBNHS 43: 661) seems clearly suggestive of migratory
movement,
general habits. Usually keeps in separated pairs or small scattered
parties. Enormous gatherings of hundreds strong may commonly be met
with on the bigger jheels such as the Manchar lake in Sind, and the Logtak
in Manipur (Assam). Also on the 4 Salt Lakes ’ near Calcutta. An excellent
diver and underwater swimmer. Disappears smoothly below the surface
without leaving a ripple, or takes a little upward leap to plunge vertically
with astonishing suddenness. After being fired at once, will often vanish
before the charge of ^Jiot can reach it a second time ! The birds are fond of
disporting themselves at sunset, chasii^g one another, pattering on the
surface half running half flying with rapid flapping (vibrating) of the
diminutive wings, to the accompaniment of shrill tittering or trilling duets
and choruses. They are loth to fly, and when alarmed will either dive for
safety or patter along and fly a short distance close to the surface presently
to flop down again. Once properly airborne, however, they can fly incredibly
well and strongly, and often travel long distances.
food. Fish, frogs, tadpoles, Crustacea, molluscs, aquatic insects, etc.
As in other grebes some feathers also swallowed. Food mostly procured by
diving, but also on surface from under floating vegetation by swift spurts
forward, neck outstretched, to seize escaping quarry.
voice and calls. In addition to the runs of shrill, rather musical trilling,
a sharp monosyllabic click is uttered repeatedly when agitated, as on
approach of nest by intruder; and also sharp squeaks like an unoiled bicycle
wheel.
breeding. Season varies in different parts of the country depending
on rainfall and availability of suitable breeding waters; chiefly April to
October in northern and peninsular India, December to February in the
8
PODICIPEDIFORMES
south and in Ceylon. Nest, a rough pad of sodden weeds and rushes, c.
30 cm. across die top of the shallow central depression. Floating or bedded
on water weeds, and usually anchored to the reeds or substrate; often in
clusters or colonies partly submerged and liable to drown by flood. It has
been noted (Williams, JBNHS 33: 619) that the temperature of the water
round the eggs within a half-submerged nest is higher than that of the lake,
perhaps as a result of the fermentation of the soggy nest material. This may
prevent chilling of the eggs and account for the birds being able to leave them
unattended for long periods. Copulation usually takes place on the nest
when the female is sitting on it. Eggs, 4 or 5, sometimes 3 or 6, rather pointed
at both ends, chalky white becoming stained dirty brownish during incu- -
bation by contact with the sodden nest. Average size c. 36 X 25 mm. The
birds cover up the eggs with loose nest material every time they leave the
nest. Both sexes incubate, and tend the young. Incubation period recorded
as 19-20 days. Two (or more?) broods are raised in succession. When the
female is incubating the second clutch, the care of the first brood of downy
young devolves entirely on the male.
The downy striped and spotted hatchlings can swim almost as soon
as hatched, but dive when a day ( ?) old clumsily with a splash, remaining
submerged only for a short time. When first venturing forth from the nest
they hold on with the bill to the parent’s flank feathers at the rear and are
thus towed along. On scenting danger the parent gives the tittering alarm
note, at the same time partly raising its wings and dipping its posterior. The
chicks clamber up the incline and ensconce themselves between the scapulars
and are carried away to safety.
Museum Diagnosis. For details of plumages of the nominate race ruficollis see
Witherby 1940, 4: 109-11. Our race c a pens is differs from it in having white bases to
the primaries and more white on the secondaries.
MEASUREMENTS
Wing Bill Tarsus Tail
(from feathers) *
6 V 94-109 18-22 . 30-35 (Baker) r. 23-33 mm. (SA)
colours of bare parts. Iris reddish brown or deep red, or orange yellow, with a
circle of fine brown spots round pupil. Bill in adult black, the extreme tip pale and
the base and gape (swollen) yellow or greenish yellow; in downy young cherry red.
Legs and feet greenish black or black.
Order Procellariifo rmes
Key to the Petrels, Shearwaters and Storm Petrels (Procellariklae and
Hydrobatidae) recorded in Indian waters
Page
A Large-sized (c. 50 cm. =■- 19J in.), dark above and below, bill pale
fleshy while Procellaria carneipes 11
B Large-sized ( c . 40-48 cm. = 15^-19 in.), dark above and white below
.. 1
C Medium-sized (c. 36 cm. « 14 in.), with dark head, chequered
upperparts, and white underparts. Daption capensis 10
PETRELS, SHEARWATERS
9
Page
D Medium-sized (c. 33-36 cm. = 13-14 in.), dark above and below
2
E Small-sized {c. 17*5-28 cm. = 7-11 in.), dark above and below
3
P Small-sized (c. 19-31 cm. = 7J-12 in.), generally dark above with
some white in plumage 4
1 White face streaked with black, upperparts scale-like in appearance,
(r. 40- 48 cm. = 15 $-19 in.) Procellaria leucomelaena
Uniformly dark above, white below (light phase) or all dark (dark
phase), tail cuneate (c. 42-48 cm. = 16$- 19 in.)
Procellaria pacifica chlororhyncka
2 Bill dark brown, body feathers paler below than above, tail short and
rounded (c. 33 cm. =13 in.) Procellaria tenuirostris
Bill very stout and black (c. 36 cm. =14 in.) Bulweria aterrima
3 Bill short (c, 29 mm.), tail long, wedge-shaped, feet flesh-coloured
Bulweria fallax
Dark all over, wedge-shaped tail, pale legs (c. 25-28 cm. = 10-11 in.)
Bulweria bulwerii
Dark all over, smaller, forked tail ( c . 17-5-19 cm. — 7-7$ in.)
Oceanodroma leucorhoa monorhis
4 Sooty black above with white underparts, dark colour of back extend-
ing to sides of breast (c. 29-31 cm. = 11$ -12$ in.)
Procellaria Iherminieri baillorti
Sooty black above with white rump, underparts while with black
band running longitudinally along middle of belly thi ough under
tail -coverts {c. 20*5 cm. -- 8 in.) Fregetla tropica melanogaster
Dark all over with white rump, pale wing-bar, square tail, and yellow
webs of toes (c. 19 cm, = 7$ in.) Oceanites oceanicus oceanictu
Family Procellariidae : Petrels, Shearwaters
Sea birds of very diverse sizes and coloration, almost from goose to myna, and
white, grey, brown, or black plumage or combinations of these. Bill short and stout
to longish and slender, covered wdth horny plates, hooked at tip. Nostrils tubular.
Wings narrow, long, and pointed with first primary longest, and secondaries short.
Tarsus short to medium, slender, laterally compressed, reticulated. Feet webbed,
with strong hindclaw. Tail short, rounded. Sexes alike.
Genus Daption Stephens
Daption Stephens, 1826, in Shaw’s Gen. Zool. 13(1); 239. Type, by original
designation, Procellaria capensis Linnaeus
Bill short, stout, gonys angulate near the end, and the extremity inclined upward.
Nostrils divided within the tube but terminating in a single orifice. Wings long:
1st quill (as.) longest; secondaries short. Tail of 14 feathers rather short, slightly
rounded at end. Tarsus slender, reticulate, somewhat compressed and shorter than
the middle or outer toe; hindclaw stout.
Contains only a single species.
11
12
13
15
15
16
21
13
20
17
10
PROCELLARIIFORMES
6. Cape Petrel. Daption capensis (Linnaeus)
Procellaria capensis Linnaeus, 1758, Syst. Nat,, cd. 10, 1 : 32 (Cape of Good Hope)
Baker, FBI No. 2201, Vol. 6: 307
other name. Cape Pigeon.
size. Pigeon; length c . 36 cm. (c. 14 in.).
field characters. A black and white pelagic petrel with a dark head,
conspicuously chequered back, and two large roundish white patches on
Adult. Above , head, neck, and
upper back sooty brown. A small
white streak below eye. Rest of back
white with black spots producing a
chequered effect. Tail white with broad
black terminal band. Below , white,
including under surface of wings. Sexes
alike,
STATUS, DISTRIBUTION and HABITAT.
Breeds in the Antarctic zone; ranges
widely over the southern circumpolar
oceans. Said to be one of the commonest
petrels in the southern hemisphere,
often following ships to pick up gar-
bage thrown overboard.
The sole record for our area is a
specimen obtained in the Gulf of
Manaar, between Ceylon and the
Indian mainland (Hume, Ibis 1870:438
and Stray Feathers 7:463), now in the
British Museum.
museum diagnosis. For description of
plumages, measurements, moults and biology, see Murphy 1936: 601-10.
MEASUREMENTS
Wing Bill Tarsus Tail
c? 2 240-268 29-32 42-46 92-108 inm.
colours of barf, parts, iris brown. Bill black, the skin between the rami red.
Legs and feet black.
Genus Procellaria Linnaeus
Procellaria Linnaeus, 1758, Syst. Nat., ed. 10, l: 131. Type, by subsequent designa-
tion, Procellaria aequinoctialis Linnaeus (Gray, 1840, cf. Ibis , 1949: 512)
Cf. Phillips, W.W.A. 1951, Spolia Z^ytanica 26(2): 151-3.
Bill long, slender, compressed, much hooked at the point and with both mandibles
turning down at tip. Nostrils tubular ending in two distinct oblique orifices (‘double-
barrelled •) directed forward and upward, with a broad division between them.
Wings long and pointed: 1st primary (as.) longest. Tail of 12 feathers, rather long
and graduated. Tarsus reticulated, compressed and sharp in front; shorter than the
middle and outer toes which are subcqual. A small hindclaw.
Oceanic birds of moderate size.
upper surface of each wing.
x c. Vio
PETRELS, SHEARWATERS 11
7. Whitefronted or Streaked Shearwater. Procellaria leucomelaena
Temminck
Procellaria leucomelas Temminck, 1835, Planch. Col. d’Ois. livr. 99:597
(Seas of Japan and Nagasaki Bay)
Baker, FBI No. 2199, Vol. 6:306
size. Brownheaded Gull ±; length c. 48 cm. (r. 19 in.).
field characters. Pelagic. Recognized by its white face streaked with
black.
Adult. Above, dark brown with black wings and tail. Below, white,
including under surface of wings. Sexes alike.
status, distribution and habitat. North Pacific Ocean from Korea
and Japan south in winter to Philippine Is., Borneo, Moluccas and New
Guinea. Breeds in colonies on small offshore islands, e.g. in Japan, in burrows
excavated in earthen hillsides.
Only one record for our area — a specimen taken at Mt Lavinia, Ceylon,
in 1884. (Skin in British Mus.)
Museum Diagnosis. For details of plumage, breeding etc. see Hachisuka
1932: 252; breeding biology Austin and Kuroda 1953: 304.
MEASUREMENTS
Wing Bill Tarsus Tail
(from feathers)
cF? 305-339 48-53 46 -54 131-150 mm.
(Baker)
colours of bare parts. Iris dark brown. Bill dark horn-colour. Legs and feet
flesh-colour, the outer toe darker (Baker) .
8. Pinkfooted Shearwater. Procellaria carneipes (Gould)
Puffinus carneipes Gould, 1844, Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. 13:365
(small islands ofT Cape Leeuwin, West Australia)
Baker, FBI No. 2198, Vol. 6: 305
size. Brownheaded Gull ± ; length c. 50 cm. (r. 20 in.).
field characters. Pelagic.
Adult. Above and below dark sooty brown or chocolate-black; sides
of head and neck paler greyish brown. Pale fleshy bill and feet. Sexes alike.
status, distribution and HABrrAT. 4 Indian and Pacific oceans from the
Australian seas north in the (southern) winter to Ceylon, Japan, Cali-
fornia.... " (Alexander 1955:28-4). Breeds on islands off southwestern
Australia and northern New Zealand, and at Lord Howe Island. Within
our area two specimens taken in Ceylon, one in 1879 (Wait 1931 : 413), the
other in 1945 (Osman Hill 1945, JBNHS 45: 239-40). More recently small
numbers observed in the Maidive Islands in July (Phillips 1958, JBNHS
55: 216).
Museum Diagnosis. For description of plumages, biology, etc. see Murphy
1936:658.
12
PROCELLARII FORMES
MEASUREMENTS
Wing Bill Tarsus Tail
(from feathers)
<?? 299-316 41-46 c. 52-56 137-148 nun.
colours of bare parts. Iris brown. Bill, feet and legs flesh colour, the tip of
both mandibles dusky and darker (Baker).
9. Wedgetailed Shearwater. Procellaria pacifica cklororhyncha (Lesson)
Puffinus chlororkynchus Lesson, 1831, Traits d’Om., Livr. 8:613
(Sharks Bay, Western Australia)
Baker, FBI No. 2196, Vol. 6:303 ( « Puffinus pacificus hamiltoni Mathews)
size. Brownheaded Gull length c . 48 cm. ( c , 19 in.).
field characters. Pelagic. Above , dark chocolate-brown, primaries
and wedge-shaped tail black. Face and throat dark brownish grey. Below ,
dimorphic, greyish brown (dark phase), or white (light phase). Sexes alike.
x c. 1
status, distribution and habitat. Warmer parts of the Indian and
Pacific oceans. Breeding at Seychelles, Mauritius, Fouquet, and Rodriguez;
ranging widely over the western Indian Ocean. From within our area
4 specimens, all taken on the W. coast of Ceylon, are in the Colombo
Museum. An old sight record at Trincomalee by Col. Legge (Wait 1931 :
412) and another by W. W. A. Phillips at Colombo in 1949 (1950, JBNHS
49: 289). According to the latter this shearwater is probably a regular
summer visitor to coastal Ceylon. He found it (presumably this same race,
cklororhyncha , plentiful in the Maidive Islands in early July (1958, JBNHS
55:216). Gumming’s record from the Makran Coast of Baluchistan was
shown by Ticehurst (1940, JBNHS 32: 89) to be erroneous, but this shear-
water may well turn up along the coast of West Pakistan.
breeding. For breeding biology see Murphy 1936, and Murphy,
Niedrach & Bailey 1954: 30.
Museum Diagnosis. For details of plumages, races, etc. see Murphy 1951: 1-21;
Hachisuka 1932:253.
MEASUREMENTS
Wing Bill Tarsus Tail
(from feathers)
(f 9 274-290 c. 36-39 e, 45-48 149-161 mm.
colours of bare parts. Iris dark brown. Bill dull fleshy or dusky greenish.
Legs and feet fleshy white (Baker).
PETRELS, SHEARWATERS 13
10. Slex^lerbilled or Short-tailed Shearwater* ProceUaria tenuirostris
Temminck
ProceUaria tenuirostris Temminck, 1835, PL Col., livr. 99; text to pL 587
(Seas north of Japan and shores of Korea Japan)
Baker, FBI No. 2197, Vol. 6; 304 [ =*= Puffinus tenuirostris tenuirostris (Temminck)]
other names. Mutton-bird, Whale-bird.
size. Pigeon; length c . 33 cm. (13 in.).
field characters. Pelagic.
Adult. Above , dark sooty brown, crown and primaries nearly black.
Below , paler and greyer with grey chin and throat and greyish under wing-
coverts.
status, distribution and habitat. Once obtained near Ormara on the
Makran Coast, Baluchistan, in May 1889 mistakenly reported (JBNHS
12: 767) as P. chlororhynchus (cf. above). Another example picked up dead
on the south coast of Ceylon in May 1949 (Phillips 1951, SZ 26: 151).
Both these doubtless blown in by SW. Monsoon gales. Breeds on islands
in the neighbourhood of Tasmania and southeastern Australia. Ranges
northward to Korea and Japan, and to Behring Straits and western coasts
of North America.
Museum Diagnosis. For description of plumages, biology, etc. see Murphy
1 936 : 673-6.
MEASUREMENTS
Wing
Bill
(from feathers)
Tarsus
Tail
c7»9
258-280
31-34
49-52
80-85 mm.
(Baker)
colours of bare parts. Iris brown. Bill blackish brown, tinged with olive.
Legs and feet purplish black, with outer toes and outer side of tarsus black.
11. Mauritius Shearwater. ProceUaria Iherminieri bailloni Bonaparte
ProceUaria nugax a . bailloni Bonaparte, 1857, Consp. Av., 2:205
(cx Insula Franeiae — Mauritius)
Not in Baker, FBI
local name. Hoogula (Maldives).
size. Pigeon — ; length r. 30 cm. (12 in.).
field characters. Pelagic.
Adult. Above , sooty black with greyish neck, the grey extending to sides
of breast. Below , white; under tail-coverts black or black-and-white. Sexes
alike.
status, distribution and habitat. Breeds in the Maidive Islands.
Extralimitally also in Mauritius, Reunion, Rodriguez, Seychelles, etc.
Ranges in the tropical Indian Ocean, but strangely enough not yet obtained
in coastal Ceylon or western India.
MIGRATION. ?
general habits. Like other petrels, spends most of the non-breeding
season at sea. Glides swiftly close to the surface skimming over the waves
14
PRO CELLAR 1 1 FORMES
in a wandering course on extended motionless wings interrupted by a few
rapid strokes, often lowering legs and paddling or * walking * along the
water. Turns and twists from side to side in flight flashing the white breast
intermittently, like sand plovers in a flock. Ranges widely over vast expanses
of ocean, returning at the appointed season to its specific breeding islands.
food. Small fish, squids, and other surface-floating animals; refuse
thrown overboard, etc.
voice and calls. Unrecorded in India.
breeding. Gregarious. Season , in Maldives apparently between October
and January, or later; said by the islanders to continue throughout the
year. Burrows were found to contain eggs and young on 29 December
(Gadow in Gardiner 1903) ; also between 26 and 31 January (1958, Phillips
& Sims, JBNHS 55: 201). Nest , a burrow excavated in sand beneath roots
of scrub, within six metres of the shore; particularly numerous on small
uninhabited islets. The birds visited the burrows only at night, between
midnight and 4 a.m. Eggs , white ; one measured 49 X 35 mm. Clutch size ?
Incubation period? (Both the incubation and nestling periods are inordi-
nately protracted in shearwaters and petrels.) Presumably, as in other
petrels, both sexes incubate.
Museum Diagnosis. For description of plumages etc. of nominate race Iherminieri
see Murphy 1936: 684-7. Bailloni differs from it only in details. It differs from the
more northerly occurring race persica (sec below) in being somewhat smaller with a
shorter bill, and in the greyish of the neck extending to sides of breast. (See also
Palmer 1962, 1; 198.)
measurements. Specimens from Maldives, Seychelles, Reunion measure: 7
9 Wing 181-198 (av. 191-7); bill (nostril to tip) 21-23 (av. 21 -6) min. Specimens
collected at Aden, and on the Makran and western India coasts (P. L persica)
measure: 4^9 Wing 199-210 (av. 204-5); 5 cf 1 9 bill (nostril to tip) 25-27
(av. 25*6 ) mm.
colours of bare parts. Iris dark brown. Bill slate, ridge of culmen and tip
black. Legs and feet slate-blue (livid flesh in juv.), back of tarsus and outer toe
black, middle of webs and joints dusky (W'itherby).
12. Persian Shearwater. Procellaria Iherminieri persica (Flume)
Puffinus persicus Flume, 1873, Stray Feathers, 1:5
(at sea between Gwadar and Muscat)
Baker, FBI No. 2200, Vol. 6:306
size. Pigeon — ; length c. 31 cm. (12 in.).
field characters. Similar to P, 1. bailloni but somewhat larger and
with a longer bill. Less grey on neck and with a narrow white ring round
eye and a white streak behind it. Difficult to distinguish unless in the hand.
(See measurements under P. /. bailloni .)
status, distribution and habitat. Arabian Sea coasts between Aden
and Karachi. Common and abundant in the Persian Gulf and the Gulf
of Oman, and on the Makran Coast. Breeding stations unknown; may lie
off the Makran Coast or the Straits of Flormuz as suggested by
Meinertzhagen (1954: 441).
15
PETRELS, SHEARWATERS
Two specimens (Wing 201 and 212 mm,) have been taken on the Bombay
Coast in the SW. monsoon season, doubtless storm-blown, and one in Kerala
(JBNHS 16:14). The racial identity of the last is undetermined.
Museum Diagnosis
MEASUREMENTS
Wing Bill Tarsus Tail
(from feathers)
c?>9 185-209 c. 38 31-33 87-103 mm.
(Baker)
colour $ of bare parts. Iris brown. Bill dusky brown, bluish at the base and
most of lower mandible. Legs and feet pinkish white; outer part of tarsus and outer
toe including web black, variable in extent.
Genus Bulweria Bonaparte
Bulweria Bonaparte, 1843 (1842), Nouv. Ann. Sci. Nat. Bologna 8:426.
Type, by monotypy, Procellaria bulwerii Jardine & Selby
Very closely allied to Procellaria but considerably smaller and of a more or less
uniformly slate colour. Feet weaker; tail comparatively longer. Nostrils on top of
culmcn forming two quite separate round holes, this portion somewhat soft.
13. Mascarene Black Petrel. Bulweria aterrima (Bonaparte)
Procellaria aterrima * Verr.’ — Bonaparte, 1857, Gonsp. Av., 2:191
(ex Insula Borbonica, Afr. occ. — Reunion)
Not in Baker, FBI
other names. Reunion Petrel, Mascarene Gadfly Petrel.
size. Pigeon -f-; length c. 36 cm. (c. 14 in.).
FIELD CHARACTERS. Pelagic.
Adult. Above and below dark grey-brown or sooty black, with wedge-
shaped tail. Bill short, stout, black. ‘ Feet dark reddish flesh colour; outer
toe and webs black ? (Alexander 1955). Dimorphic: dark and light colour
phases. Has been likened to a huge swift flying low and fast over the surface
of the sea.
status, distribution and habitat. Indian Ocean from the Mascarene
Islands north to the Gulf of Aden. Doubtfully breeding on Reunion Island
c . 21°0'S., 55°30'E.
A live specimen (storm-blown?) taken by fishermen at Bombay, 15 June
1940, identified at Colombo Museum (JBNHS 42:193). Unfortunately
the skin cannot be traced for rcchecking; therefore the record must stand
unconfirmed till fresh specimens come to hand.
13a. Jouanin’s Gadfly Petrel. Bulweria fallax Jouanin
Bulweria fallax Jouanin, 1955, L’Oiseau 27: 160
(at sea, approximately 12 6 30'N., 55°E.)
Not in Baker, FBI
other name. Jouanin’s Black Petrel.
16
PRO CELLAR II FORMES
size. Pigeon — ; length r. 29-30 cm. (12 in.).
FIELD CHARACTERS. PeUgic.
Adult. Above and below brownish black with long wedge-shaped tail
and a short, thick bill. Sexes alike.
status, distribution and habitat. Probably breeds in burrows on
islands such as Kuria Muria off eastern Aden, Socotra, or Abd-el-Kuri.
Found commonly in the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Aden throughout the
year. Bailey and Bourne (1963, JBNHS 60: 258) report that they handled
several examples of this species that came aboard an aircraft carrier at
16°49'N., 55°15'E. and 18°50'N., 57°50'E. on 14 February 1960, and
11°24'N., 57°G5'E. on 25 May in the central Arabian Sea off the mouth of
the Gulf of Aden,
general habits. Unknown, but has been observed feeding alone far
from land.
food. One of the birds handled by Bailey (Bailey & Bourne, loc. cit.)
vomited a small squid.
breeding. Unknown, but probably some time between October and
March,
Museum Diagnosis
MEASUREMENTS
Wing Bill
240 29
COLOURS OP BARE PARTS
to the legs and toes.
Tarsus Tail Wingspan
32 125 790 mm.
Bill black. Feet flesh-coloured with black outer edges
13b. Bulwer’s Gadfly Petrel. Bulweria buhverii (Jardine & Selby)
Procellaria bulwerii Jardine & Selby, 1828, 111. Orn., 2. pi. 65 (Madeira)
Not in Baker, FBI
other names. Bulwer’s Petrel, Bulwer’s Black Petrel.
size. Pigeon — ; length c. 26*5-28 cm. (10J-11 in.).
field characters, A small brownish black gadfly petrel, rather paler
on chin and edges of greater wing-coverts, with a short, slim bill, short legs,
and a long, wedge-shaped tail.
PLATE 1
1 Anas pendopc, Wigeon (103). 2 Anas s. strepera, Gad wall (101). 3 Anas c. crecca, Common
Teal (94). 4 Anas acuta. Pintail (93). 5 Anas querquedula , Garganey (104). 6 Anas clypeata.
Shoveller (105). 7 Aythya fuligula, Tufted Duck (111). 8 Aythya nyroca. White-eyed Pochard
(109). 9 Podkeps c. cristatus , Great Crested Grebe (3). 1 0 Podiceps r. captnsis , Little Grebe (5)<
Ducks all c? d 1 in summer (breeding) plumage
PETRELS, SHEARWATERS 17
STATUS, DISTRIBUTION and HABITAT.
Pelagic. Breeds on islands off die coast of
China,* the Bonin Islands, Vulcan Islands,
the western Hawaii ans and Marquesas
Islands in the Pacific Ocean. Also breeds
on Madeira, the Salvages, Canary and
Cape Verde Islands in the Atlantic.
Phillips (1959, Bull. BOC, 79: 100-101)
has reported upon the occurrence of this
species in the Indian Ocean, having
secured a specimen in the Maldives in
August, 1958.
food. Probably squid, small fish, and
zooplankton.
breeding. Eggs are known from May
to July.
Bill Tarsus Tail
21 27 110 mm.
colours of bare parts. Bill black. Legs mainly pink; feet flesh-colour, outer
toes and webs black.
Family Hydrobatidae : Storm Petrels
The smallest sea birds, closely related to Shearwaters, up to about Myna size
(c. 25 cm. or 10 in.), of blackish or greyish plumage, mostly with a white rump.
Wings long; tail medium to long; neck short. Bill slender, of medium length, grooved,
hooked at tip. Nostrils tubular with a single orifice. Legs slender, medium to long;
feet webbed, mostly black. Webs black or particoloured. Sexes alike.
Genus Oceanites Keyserling & Blasius
Oceanites Keyserling and Blasius, 1840, Wirbelth. Eur. 1: xciii, 131, 238. Type, by
subsequent designation, Procellaria wilsonii Bonaparte = Procellaria oceanica Kuhl
Size small. Bill slight, and shorter than head; the orifice of the combined
nostrils single. Wings very long and narrow: 2nd primary (as.) longest. Tail mode-
rate, slightly forked* Tibia partly naked; tarsi smooth, much longer than toes.
Hind toe only represented by a minute claw. Basal phalanx of middle toe not flattened ;
shorter than the other phalanges plus claw. Claws sharp, spatulate, but little flattened.
The genus ranges through the southern oceans and into the North Temperate
Bill of Bulweria bulwerii, X c. 1
Museum Diagnosis
MEASUREMENTS
Wing
200
14. Wilson’s Storm Petrel* Oceanites oceanicus oceanicus (Kuhl)
Pro.(cellaria) oceanica Kuhl, 1820, Beitr. Zool. Abth., 1: 136 pi. 10, f.l*
(No type locality. South Georgia designated by Murphy,
1928, Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist., 38: 128)
Baker, FBI No. 2194, Vol. 6: 300
other names. Mother Carey’s Chicken, Yellow-webbed Storm Petrel.
size. Bulbul; length c . 19 cm. (7| in.).
18
PROCELLAR IIFORMES
field characters. Pelagic. A small sooty black storm petrel with a
conspicuous white patch above tail (coverts) and a pale wing-bar. Longish
slender black legs with distinctive lemon-yellow webbed toes which charac-
teristically project behind the short square tail in flight. Sexes alike.
Foot, x 1
Dark coloration and white rump, as well as flight, superficially reminiscent
of house swift. The only storm petrel with white rump and dark underparts
occurring regularly in the Indian Ocean.
PETRELS, SHEARWATERS
19
status, distribution and habitat. Claimed to be one of the most
numerous bird species in the world, and is certainly the most wide-ranging
of the storm petrels. Breeds on Antarctic and subantarctic islands wander-
ing north in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans in summer, to Europe,
Arabia, India, New Guinea, Japan, California, etc. Not uncommon along
the coasts of the Persian Gulf, Makran and Sind.
visits coastal Ceylon chiefly during the SW.
Monsoon, and has been taken at Kanyakumari
(Kerala). Sinclair (1888, JBNHS) mentions it
as ‘ known but rare 5 on the Konkan coast (W.
India). A specimen 1 was collected within two
j miles of Bombay docks on 22.10.1947 when
also a number of scattered birds were observed
in coastal waters a few miles southward (Abdulali, JBNHS 47: 550). This
is possibly a regular seasonal occurrence but curiously enough unrecorded.
H. G. Alexander noted it about 150 miles out of Bombay towards Aden on 10
September (. Ibis , 1929: 43). Not recorded from northern parts of the Bay of
Bengal, but several from the neighbourhood of Malaya.
migration. The meagre authentic records for the Indian Ocean suggest
that probably the main body of birds from the Antarctic breeding grounds
reaches north to Socotra and the Arabian coast in May-June, returning
by way of the waters off Ceylon between September and November (Gibson-
Hill 1948, JBNHS 47: 445).
general habits. Keeps in scattered ones and twos or small parties —
sometimes large gatherings of 200 or more. Often met far out at sea flying
swift-like (alternate glides and fluttering) close over the water even in a
choppy sea, or riding buoyantly on the wave crests. Picks up floating
animalcules from the comparatively calm troughs between the waves,
getting hidden now and again behind the swell. Feeds by ‘ walking * or
‘ hopping * on the water with wings fluttering and held slightly above line
of back — strangely reminiscent of a flock of jungle babblers hopping in
active search of food — long legs dangling, feet paddling, head bent low
and bill touching the surface.
food. Mainly zooplankton.
breeding. In the south polar and subpolar zones in the southern
summer, November to January. Nests in crevices in cliffs, under and amongst
stones of screes, etc.
Museum Diagnosis. For details of plumage etc. see Murphy 1936, 2: 749; Baker
1929,6:300.
MEASUREMENTS
Wing Bill Tarsus Tail
(from feathers)
<J»9 140-157 12-14 32-36 72-84 mm.
(Baker)
colours of bare parts. Iris blackish. Bill dull black. Legs and feet black, with
a conspicuous pale yellow patch in the centre of each web.
*Dr G. A. Gibson-Hill who examined this specimen suggested that it might be of the
Kerguelen breeding race parvus . But the difference? between the races are so slight and the
overlap in the measurements so considerable that he could not be definite. The bird
measured: Wing 145; bill 18*5; tarsus 35; tail 59 mm.
20
PROCELLAR I IF ORMES
Genus Freoetta Bonaparte
Fregetta Bonaparte, 1855, Comp. Rend. Acad. Sci. Paris 41: 1113. Type, by original
designation, Thalassidroma leucogaster Gould
Very close to Oceanites. Differs from it in having the first phalanx of the middle
toe greatly flattened and longer than the other phalanges plus claw. Claws flattened,
broad, spade-shaped and pointed at end.
The genus is chiefly found in the southern oceans.
15. Duskyvented Storm Petrel. Fregetta tropica melanogaster (Gould)
Thalassidroma melanogaster Gould, 1844, Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist., 13:367
(Southern Indian Ocean)
Baker, FBI No. 2195, Vol. 6: 302
other names. Gould’s Storm Petrel; Mother Carey’s Chicken.
size. Bulbul ±; length c . 20 cm. (8 in.).
field characters. Pelagic. Like Wilson’s Storm Petrel sooty black
above with white rump, but with underside including middle of under
wings white. A black band along middle of belly through under tail-coverts.
Legs shorter, all black, including webs of toes. ‘ The longitudinal dark band
on the belly, with conspicuous white areas on either side, distinguish this
storm petrel from its congeners. It is, however, surprisingly difficult to
differentiate in life as it follows a ship or dances upon the ocean ’ (Murphy
1936, 2: 764). Flight weaker, more fluttering and bat-like; otherwise habits
more or less the same as last.
status, distribution and habitat. Accidental straggler. Breeds in
colonies on islands in the Antarctic and subantarctic zone, e.g. Kerguelen
and South Orkney. Only a single old record from our area — a specimen
collected in the Bay of Bengal ( c . 1895) by or for the Marquis of Tweeddale,
now in the British Museum. The bird ranges in the seas south of Australia,
but has apparently not been seen elsewhere in the Indian Ocean.
Jerdon 1864 (3 : 827), mentioned that a storm petrel was not of unfrequent
occurrence near the mouths of the Ganges in stormy weather, as well as in
the Bay of Bengal. The species was not established, and no recent authentic
identification is available.
Museum Diagnosis. For description of plumages, also biology, see Murphy
1936, 2:764-7.
MEASUREMENTS
Wing
Bill
(from feathers)
Tarsus
Tail
c?9
158-176
14-15
c . 40-43
73-81 mm.
(Baker)
colours of bare parts. Iris brown. Bill, legs and toes (including webs) black.
Genus Oceanodroma Reichenbach
Oceanodroma Reichenbach, 1853 (1852), Av. Syst. Nat.: iv. Type, by original
designation, Procellaria furcata Gmelin
Cf. Austin, O. L., Jr., 1952, Bull. Mus. Comp. ZooL, Harvard, 107: 399-401
PETRELS, SHEARWATERS 21
Rather dose to Fregetta and Oceanites but with deeply forked tail of 12 feathers.
Tarsus about equal to middle toe plus claw. 1st primary (as.) concealed, minute
and pointed ; 3rd primary longest.
16. Forktailed Storm Petrel* Oceanodroma leucorhoa rnonorkis (Swinhoe)
Thalassidroma morwrhis Swinhoe, 1867, Ibis: 386 (Amoy, China)
Not in Baker, FBI
other name. Leach’s Storm Petrel.
size. Bulbul ±; length c. 17-19 cm. (c. 7-7 J in.).
field characters. Pelagic. Similar in size to Wilson’s but appearing
a fairly uniform sooty brown, including underwing. Slightly greyer on neck
and underparts, and with dark rump instead of white. Differs also in its
distinctly forked tail, and shorter black legs and black feet. Flight similarly
swallow-like but stronger than in whiterumped species described. Sexes
alike.
status, distribution and habitat. Rare
vagrant. Breeds on islets from Korea and
coastal Japan south to Quelpart Island, and
islets off Formosa. Winters south to
Singapore. In our area only a single specimen
obtained in Ceylon — an exhausted storm-
driven male at Mutwal near Colombo, 3 July
Bill of Oceanodroma leucorhoa, x c. 1 1927. This was apparently misidentified by
Stuart Baker as of the Californian race
socorroensis . Also a fairly reliable identification (H. H. Tomlinson) of one
that came on board ship a little west of Colombo, 10 June 1923, and was
examined in the hand (Gibson-Hill 1948, JBNHS 47: 447-8).
Museum Diagnosis. For description of plumage, measurements and other
details, see Austin, 1952.
colours of bake parts. Iris brownish. Bill, legs, and feet black (Palmer 1962,
1 : 226).
Order Pelecaniformes
Family Phaetiiontidae: Tropic-Birds
Wide-ranging tropical sea birds similar in size and superficial appearance to
terns but morphologically closer to cormorants and frigate birds. Plumage in adults
chiefly white and black. Head large; neck short; bill yellow or orange-red, longish,
stout, slightly decurved, pointed. Wings long and pointed. Tail wedge-shaped with
the middle pair of feathers in adults narrow, ribbonlike, much elongated as in the
Paradise Flycatcher ( Terpsiphone ). Legs extremely short; feet webbed (connecting
all 4 toes). Sexes alike. Young hatch from the egg with down. Eggs curiously like
those of the raptors especially the Scavenger Vulture (Neophron). (For details of
anatomy etc. see Baker 1929, 6: 290.)
22
PELECANIFORMES
Genus Phaethon Linnaeus
Phaethon Linnaeus, 1758, Syst. Nat., ed. 10, 1 : 134. Type, by subsequent designation,
Phaethon aethereus Linnaeus
Cf.JGibson-Hill, G. A., 1950, JBNHS 49: 67-80
Characters as of the Family. The genus is represented throughout the tropical
seas of the world.
Key to the Species
A With elongated tail streamers 1
B Without elongated tail streamers 2
1 Streamers red P. rubricauda (adult)
Streamers white a
a Upper and lower parts white, black wing-bar, bill yellow to orange
P. lepturus (adult)
Uppcrparts barred with black, black wing-bar, bill red
P. aethereus (adult)
2 Uppcrparts barred with black, bill black
P. rubricauda (ju venal)
Uppcrparts barred with black, bill yellow b
b With black nuchal crescent
P. aethereus (juvenal)
Without black nuchal crescent P. lepturus ( juvenal)
Page
24
24
17
24
17
24
17. Short-tailed Tropic-bird. Phaethon aethereus indicus Hume
Phaethon indicus Hume, 1876, Stray Feathers, 4: 481, 483 (Makran Coast)
Baker, FBI No. 2188, Vol. 6: 291
other names. Boatswain or Bos’n bird; Redbilled Tropic-bird.
size. Blackheaded Gull or large tern; length c. 40 cm. (16 in.) + tail
ribbons c . 30 cm. (12 in.).
x Vi
TROPIC- BIRDS
23
field characters. Pelagic. A predominantly white tern-like sea bird
with two greatly elongated ribbons in the wedge-shaped tail as in the
Paradise Flycatcher’s.
Adult. Above , white finely
barred with black. A black upright
crescentic band in front of and
through eye on each side of head.
A black wing-bar conspicuous in
flight. Outer primaries largely
black. Beloufy including underside
of wing, white with a black
horizontal patch on posterior flanks. Bright coral red bill diagnostic.
Sexes alike.
Young (immature). Black-spotted crown and nape, heavier black
barring on back, and no ribbons in tail.
status, distribution and habitat. Northern parts of Indian Ocean.
Breeds on islands off the Somali coast, and in the Straits of Bab-el-Mandeb
and the Persian Gulf. Ranges widely over the ocean in the off season.
Recorded at sea off the Makran coast (February), between Karachi
and Gulf of Kutch (March), Bombay (February, May and July —
Navarro, Rauf Ali, JBNHS 59 : 649 ; 65 : 437) ; also from the Laccadive
Islands. A specimen secured on 3 February 1956 west of southern Ceylon
(7°52' N., 77°26' E.) is apparently the first authentic record in Ceylon waters,
and also the southernmost in our area (Phillips 1958, SZ 28: 184).
general habits. Flight tern-like but stronger and more direct with
steady powerful flapping of the long, pointed wings, each flap perceptibly
raising and lowering the bird in the air. Resembling the flight of a pigeon
and punctuated with bouts of gliding. Usually unafraid, flying inquisitively
quite close around ships far out at sea. The birds hover over a promising
spot as if to take aim, and plunge headlong from a height of 30 or 40 metres
on their prey, like the sea terns and boobies.
food. Mainly fish and squids. Flying fish have often been taken from
crops of specimens.
voice and calls. Loud, monosyllabic, rather finch-like (Phillips);
* incessant screams while circling around ship ’ (E. H. Aitken).
breeding. Season. March /April recorded in the Persian Gulf. A single
egg laid under shelter of a ledge of rock or in a crevice. Often nests gregari-
ously. Incubation period e. 28 days.
For breeding biology of the species see Stonehousc 1962: 124-61.
Museum Diagnosis. For details of plumage etc. see Baker, loc. cit.
MEASUREMENTS
Wing
Bill
Tarsus
Tail
(from feathers)
(including streamers)
d>9
281-301
55-60
25-28
215-301 mm.
colours of bare parts. Iris dark brown. Bill orange-red to dusky red, the
tip, edge of commissure and nareal groove blackish. Legs and feet yellow or yellowish
white, the anterior toes and webs between them black (Baker).
Xf.J
24
PELECANIFORMES
1 8. Redtailed Tropic-bird. Phaethon rubricauda rubricauda Boddaert
Phaethon rubricauda Boddaert, 1873, Table PI. enlum.: 57 (Mauritius)
Baker, FBI No. 2189, Vol. 6: 292
Plate 5, fig. 1, facing p. 96
size. Blackheaded Gull ± or large tern; length c . 36 cm. (14 in.) -f tail
with streamers c. 48 cm. (19 in.).
field characters. Pelagic. A tern-like sea bird, predominantly silky
white, with black streak through eye, black shafts to wing and tail feathers,
and two long, somewhat stiff narrow bright red streamers in wedge-shaped
tail which project spike-like rather than trail ribbon-like in flight. Sexes
alike.
status, distribution and habitat. Breeds on Mauritius, Assumption,
and the Aldabra group of islands. Ranges widely in the tropical western
Indian Ocean. Vagrants reported from the Bay of Bengal several times,
but not colJected and determined racially. May belong to the Christmas
Island and Cocos-Keeling breeding population westralis Mathews.
general habits. Like other tropic-birds, usually met far out at sea,
singly or in pairs — not gregariously. Does not follow ships for scraps, but
often circles round close above them inquisitively and unafraid, and then
moves on. Flight more buoyant than of the Short- tailed species.
Museum Diagnosis. For details of plumages etc. see Baker, loc. cit.; Mathews
and Iredale 1921: 80,
MEASUREMENTS
Wing
Bill
(from feathers)
Tarsus
Tail
(including streamers)
C? 9 330-339
66-69
30-33
360-428 mm.
(Baker)
colours of bare parts. * Iris dark brown; eyelids black. Bill bright orange-red,
paler or slightly brownish at the base, with a small black bar on the plane of the
nostril. Legs and proximal one- third of the toes pale mauve or bluish while, with
the distal two-thirds of the web black * (Gibson-Hill 1950),
19. White Tropic-bird. Phaethon Upturns Upturns Daudin
Phaethon Upturns Daudin, 1802, Buffon Hist. Nat., ed. Didot., Quadr., 14: 319
(Mauritius)
Baker, FBI No. 2190, Vol. 6: 293
other name. Ycllowbilled Tropic-bird.
size. Blackheaded Gull ± or large tern; length c. 38 cm. (r. 15 in.)
+ tail with streamers c, 45 cm. (18 in.).
field characters. Pelagic. A white tern-like sea bird with orange-
yellow bill and upright crescentic black spot in front of eye continued
behind as a black streak through it to nape. In flight, a broad black band
from shoulder to shoulder across upper surface of wings conspicuous, inter-
rupted in the middle by the white back. Black wing tips. Two very long
white streamers (central tail-feathers) broader and more pliant (ribbon-
like) than in the red-tailed species. At close range adult distinguishable
from adult indicus by unbarred back. Sexes alike.
PELICANS
25
status, distribution and habitat. The typical race breeds in the
Mascarene, Seychelles, Maidive, Andaman, and Cocos-Keeling islands.
Sight records for seas off Ceylon; 4 specimens taken on the island’s west
coast in Colombo Museum (Phillips 1953, Checklist: 3). Ranges over the
tropical Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian oceans in several races.
general habits. Like other tropic-birds usually met with singly on
the high seas. Has the same pigeon-like flight. Only seldom settles on water.
For an excellent account of its biology see Murphy 1936: 802-7.
breeding. Season , in the Red Sea and Persian Gulf islands (?) May,
June, and July (Baker) ; in the Maidive Islands apparently the cool months*
November to January (adult, nestling, and eggs collected on Mahlosmadulu
Atoll in November, and full-fledged juveniles on Tuladu Island in January
— Phillips & Sims 1958, JBNHS 55 (2): 202).
For breeding biology see Stonchouse 1962: 124-61.
Museum Diagnosis. For description of plumages etc. see Murphy 1936: 802-3.
MEASUREMENTS
Wing
Bill
Tarsus
Tail
(f 9
252-282
(from feathers)
44-51
21-23
Central feathers
up to 575, generally
c, 450 mm.
(Baker)
colours of bare parts. * (J 1 9 Iris dark brown; eyelids black. Bill yellowish
grey, almost grey at the base with a dark grey line through the nostril. Legs and feet
jet black, except for the inner toe and a small patch in the inner web which are a
very light blue-grey, almost white 1 (Gibson-Hill 1950).
Family Pelecanidae: Pelicans
local names (for all species) : Hdwdstl (Hindi) ; Bellua , Birwa or Bherwa (Bihar) ;
Ganggoya, Gangabcr, Garapolo or Gorapvllo (Bengal); Chinkabatu (Telugu); Deohdns ,
Dhera , Bhela (Assam); Uphong (Manipur); Pas boruwa , Pasbara (Sinhala) ; Kuldkeda
(Tamil, Ceylon) ; Pen (Sind ; Kutch) ; Kotumpanvom (Malayalam).
Large gregarious clumsy-looking birds with short stout legs and large fully webbed
feet. Tarsus compressed, reticulate in front. Bill long, heavy, the upper mandible
flattened and hooked at tip, the lower consisting of two narrow flexible arches,
underhung throughout its length by a capacious gular pouch of loose naked skin.
Nostrils obsolete, concealed in grooves running the whole length along cither side
of culmen. Wings large and broad, 2nd primary (as.) longest. Tail short, square, soft.
The extensible pouch serves as a dip- or landing net for scooping up fish, and when
nesting on the ground or in trees in the hot sun as a cooling device for dissipating
moisture and promoting evaporation by constant pulsation. The skeleton of hollow
bones is particularly light weighing less than a kilogram to the total body weight of
about 12 kilograms. Thus in spite of some little effort in the initial take-off from
the surface, particularly in a following wind, the birds can fly strongly and for long
distances to and from their fishing grounds, and when migrating. They fly with the
neck bent back in a flat S, head drawn in between the shoulders, the large broad
wings beating the air powerfully and steadily with a whistling sound. The flat-
keeled underside of the body is beautifully streamlined for buoyant flight and is
reminiscent of the float of a flying boat. When alighting on the water the birds
26
PELECANIFORMES
make full use of their wings and tail to check momentum, at the same time throwing
out their broadly webbed feet well forward to act as friction brakes against the
water. Pelicans fly either in the characteristic V-shaped echelons of geese, or in
long straggly ribbons with a wide front. The birds are much given to soaring on
thermals, and flocks may commonly be seen in the middle of a hot day sailing on
outspread motionless wings with upturned tips, in graceful circles high up in the
blue, by themselves or in company with storks and vultures.
The birds frequent large freshwater lakes and jheels, and brackish lagoons. Their
food consists almost exclusively of fish, some of considerable size being taken. A
single bird is estimated to consume as much as 2 kg. per day. While the greater
part of the fish perhaps consist of species of small economic worth, which are always
in the majority, pelicans occasionally do some damage to commercial fisheries also.
The method of fishing is by cooperative effort, a flotilla of birds swimming in a
semicircle, or from bank to bank across an arm of a lake, vigorously splashing on the
water with their large wings to drive a school of fish into the shallows. They do not
dive for their prey like cormorants, but merely sail or rush into the shoal with bills
open and lower mandible trailing in the water, or head completely submerged,
the enormous skin bag acting as a landing net for the quarry which is swallowed by
an upward jerk of the bill. Only the American Biown Pelican normally plunges
from the air on fish like the sea terns or gannets. When satiated the birds waddle
on to the shore to rest and preen and digest, before resuming the hunt.
The oil obtained from pelicans’ fat is highly valued in Indian medicine as an
embrocation for rheumatism and similar ailments.
distribution. Temperate and tropical America, Africa, Asia, Europe, Australia.
Some species migratory.
voice. Syringeal muscles responsible for true voice-production, lacking. Adults
usually silent; rarely uttering throaty grunts or croaks likened to the grunt of a
buffalo. Young have a variety of groans, yelps and chattering.
Genus Pelecanus Linnaeus
Pclecanus Linnaeus, 1758, Syst. Nat., ed. 10, 1:132. Type, by subsequent designation,
Pelecanus onocrolalus Linnaeus
Characters as of the Family.
Key to the Indian forms
Page
A White with black primaries, bill and pouch yellow to orange 1
B General coloration grey, no black in wings, bill flesh with blue spots,
pouch dull purple P.p. philippensis (adult) 29
C Pale brown above, white below P. />. philippensis ( juvenai) 29
D Brown to dingy white, irregularly speckled with brown 2
1 Feathers of forehead end in a point P. onocrotalus (adult) 27
Feathers of forehead end in a transverse concave line
P. p. crispus (adult) 30
2 Feathers of forehead end in a point
P. onocrotalus (ju venal) 27
Feathers of forehead end in a transverse concave line
P. p. crispus (juvenal) 30
PELICANS 27
20. White or Rosy Pelican* Pelecanus onocrotalus Linnaeus
Pelecanus onocrotalus Linnaeus, 1758, Syst. Nat, ed. 10, 1: 132. (Africa, Asia)
Baker, FBI No. 2176, Vol. 6:270
local names. See under Family.
size. Vulture ±; length c . 183 cm. (72 in.).
FIELD CHARACTERS.
1 Adult. Plumage mostly white, tinged with rose colour, with a tuft
of yellowish feathers on the breast ; primaries and some of the secondaries
black; slight crest on the back of the head; feathers of the forehead ending
in a point above the bill. Sexes alike ; female smaller.
A
B
Feathers of forehead of (A) P. onocrotalus and (B)
< You ng" (immature). Pale bullish brown above, somewhat mottled;
primaries brown; underparts white with no rosy tinge 5 (Alexander 1955:
174).
status, distribution and habitat. Resident, at least in part; first
discovered breeding in the Great Rann of Kutch in 1960 (Salim Ali 1960,
JBNHS 57: 414). Mainly winter visitor to W. Pakistan (Baluchistan, Sind)
and N. India from the Punjab to Assam (U.P., Rajasthan, Kutch, Saurashtra
N. Gujarat). Andhra (Visakhapatnam) ?, and ‘Madras’ (?). Often vast
congregations on large jhcels and lagoons.
ExtralimitaL Breeding from Hungary to the lakes of central Asia, south
to Iraq and the Persian Gulf (Bubiyan Island off Fao). Wintering in N.
Africa, Asia and through Burma, Malaysia to E. China.
breeding. Season . February to April in the Great Rann of Kutch where
several hundred pairs were first found in 1960 nesting among old worn-
down flamingo nests on the periphery of the occupied c City \ Nest, a
skimpy to fairly substantial bed of large white feathers (the birds’ own, and
flamingos’) close together, about one nest per square metre. On 21 March
most nests contained two eggs or young each (some 3 or 4), from naked
newly hatched chicks to hefty squabs in down, a fortnight or more old.
Eggs, ivory white with a smooth gloss, not chalky-textured like flamingo
eggs, about the same size but slightly broader. Average of 25 Kutch eggs
28
PELECANIFORMES
95-56 X 61 • 65 mm. ; of 1 4 from Persian Gulf, fide Baker, 88- 3 X 57 • 5 mm.
Chicks when newly hatched, naked glossy-skinned, dark flesh-coloured,
changing to blackish in 3 or 4 ( ?) days. Turn blacker when feather papillae
appear and the down and quills sprout. Bill, bill-pouch, and legs funereal
black. Down of the larger squabs dull sooty black in striking contrast with
the snowy white of the tree-nesting P. philippensis (q.v.). The larger squabs
are enormously fat and ugly; when approached they herd together and
waddle off with an ungainly, unsteady gait. On fright the Kutch chicks
disgorged an astonishing quantity of fish (mainly Cyprinodon dispar) some
fully 25 cm. long and weighing 500 to 600 gm. each.
Pelecanus onocrotalus
Museum Diagnosis. See Hartert 1912-22, 2: 1402.
MEASUREMENTS
Wing
Bill
Tarsus
Tail
(from feathers)
d’d’
700-730
430-450 ^
r. 130-140
190-210 mm,
9 9
640-680
390 400 J
colours of bare parts. Iris red to crimson. Bill plumbeous blue, mottled with
whitish along the centre, with the nail and edges of both mandibles red; lower
mandible blue on the basal, yellow on the terminal half. Pouch, face and orbital
skin yellow, brighter in the breeding season. Legs and feet fleshy pink; webs yellow
(Baker).
[Details of a freshly killed specimen, Bharatpur, 2. 1. 1952.
Ad. c? Wing 745; bill (from skull) 435; tarsus 152; tail 163(?) mm.
Weight 1 1 kg. Iris yellow. Facial skin pale magenta-flesh (pink). Bill: a plumbeous-
blue stripe along ridge of culmen, c. 2-5 cm, (1 in.) wide at forehead, narrowing
PELICANS
29
to c* 1 *25 cm. (J in.) near tip. Similar tapering lateral bands on either side of oilmen
and louver mandible for c . 25 cm. (10 in.) from gape; tip of bill (nail) pale cherry-red
paling to a yellowish horn point. Pouch lemon-yellow. Legs and feet pale creamy
grey. Pouch held c. 4 kg. of fish, some 25 cm. long.]
21. Spottedbilled or Grey Pelican. Pelecanus philippensis philippensis
Gmelin
Pelecanus philippensis Gmelin, 1709, Syst. Nat. 1(2): 571 (Philippines =*
Manila, uidc Stresemann 1952, Ibis 94: 514)
Pelecanus roseus Gmelin, 1 789, Syst. Nat. 1 (2) : 570. (Manila, P.I.)
Baker, FBI No. 2179, Vol. 6: 274
Plate 2, fig. 1, facing p. 32
local names. See under Family.
size. Vulture + ; slightly smaller than White Pelican. Length r. 152 cm,
(60 in.).
field characters. Without black in wings.
Adult. Head, ueck, and upperparts grey; underparts greyish white,
the under tail-coverts mottled with brown; under wing-coverts and under
tail-coverts tinged with vinaceous in summer; lower back, rump, and
flanks tinged vinaceous in winter ; a crest on the back of the head, composed
of elongated brown feathers tipped with white ; bill flesh-coloured with blue
spots on the upper mandible; pouch dull purple with bluish black markings;
feet dark brown. Sexes alike.
‘ The grey colouring which includes wings and tail, at once distinguishes
this species * (Alexander 1955: 176).
Young (immature), pale brown above, white below.
status, distribution and habitat. Resident and locally migratory, in
well watered tracts in both Pakistans, all India, and Ceylon. Breeds in
Ceylon, Madras (Tirunclvcli and Chinglcput districts), Andhra (West
Godavari district), Assam (Kaziranga Wildlife Sanctuary) and doubtless
elsewhere in suitable localities. Affects large jheels, brackish lagoons, and
tidal estuaries.
general habits, etc. Sec under Family.
breeding. Gregarious, often in traditional sites in mixed colonies with
egrets, cormorants, etc. Season , in Ceylon December to March /April, at
Aredu-Sarepalle, a few miles from Kolleru Lake in Andhra — the largest
pelicanry known in India — chiefly October to March. Nest, a massive
structure 60-75 cm. across, roughly circular, 30 cm. or more thick, on
branches of Pithecelobium , mango, and other large trees, or on palmyra
(Borassus) and coconut (Cocos) palms. On a thick foundation of twigs are
bedded large quantities of rice straw from nearby newly harvested fields
making the finished nest appear as though entirely made of that material.
Sodden decaying water weeds and reed stems also used along with or
instead of straw. Nests on palms built at base of the more or less horizontal
stems of lowest leaves, the nests touching one another in a continuous untidy
ring platform. Pilfering of material from neighbouring nests common. Nests
constantly added to most of the time. Eggs , 3 or 4, chalky white becoming
SO PELECANIFORMES
stained and dirty in course of incubation; Jong to moderate ovals, nearly
equal at both ends. Average size of 50 eggs 78*8 x 53-4 mm. (Baker), Both
sexes incubate and also feed the young. In contrast with the White Pelican,
the chicks when a few days old are covered with snow-white down. A great
deal of noise prevails in a colony with groaning and yelping by the hungry
chicks and throaty grunts and bill-clapping by the adults. Chicks feed by
thrusting complete head into capacious bill -pouch of parent, flapping their
wings ecstatically. Incubation period c. 30 days (Lamba 1963, Pavo
1 : 1 10—19). Period from laying of egg to flying of young about five months.
(For an excellent account of the Aredu-Sarepalle pelicanry in Andhra see
K. K. Neelakantan 1949, JBNHS 48 (4): 656-66, and for photos E. P. Gee
1960, ibid. 57: 245-51.)
Museum Diagnosis. Sec Baker, loc. cit.; Robinson and Chasen 1936: 239.
MEASUREMENTS
Wing
Bill
(from feathers)
Tarsus
Tail
(?C?
530-607
324-355
86-98 ^
168-196 mm.
9 9
525-550
285-308
75-86 J
colours of bare parts. Iris while to pale yellow, clouded with brown. Bill
pinkish flesh or yellowish flesh with a row of bluish black spots on each side near
the edge; the nail and terminal half of both mandibles orange, the lower mandible
with bluish blotches near the centre. Pouch dull purple blotched with bluish black.
Naked (facial) skin orange-yellow', livid in front of the eye. Legs and feet very dark
brown or blackish (Baker).
22. Dalmatian Pelican. Pelecanus philippensis crispus Bruch
Pelecanus crispus Bruch, 1832, Isis, Col. 1109 (Dalmatia)
Baker, FBI No. 2178, Vol. 6: 273
local names. See under Family.
size. Vulture +; same as White Pelican. Length c. 183 cm. (72 in.).
FIELD CHARACTERS.
Adult. Very similar to White Pelican, also mainly white with black
primaries, and difficult to distinguish from it in the distance. Colour of legs
and feet dark grey instead of pink; and forehead feathers ending in a concave
crescentic line instead of a pointed wedge, best diagnostic clues. In flight dusky-
white undersurface of wings distinguishes it from White Pelican. Sexes alike.
Young (immature) brownish grey above; white below. Pouch greyish.
status, distribution and habitat. Breeds in SE. Europe, Asia Minor,
Iran, N. China, SK, Mongolia. Winter visitor to N. Africa and our area:
recorded in Baluchistan, Sind, Punjab, Kutch, Rajasthan (?), Saurashtra,
N. Gujarat, Oudh, Bihar, Orissa (?), Bengal, Assam. Not in the Deccan,
S. India or Ceylon. Flocks on large rivers, jheels, and coastal lagoons.
general habits, etc. See under Family.
Museum Diagnosis. For plumages see Naumann 1905, 1 1 : 24.
BOOBIES
31
MEASUREMENTS
Wing
Bill
Tarsus
Tail
9 9
720-800
680-720
(from feathers)
400-4501
360-380 J
116-122
220-230 Bun.
(Baker)
colours of bare parts. Iris white or yellowish white. Bill plumbeous grey,
the nail and edges of both mandibles yellow over the apical half. Cheeks, orbital
skin, and pouch, pale yellowish or creamy flesh-colour, the last deepening into
orange-red in the breeding season. Legs and feet pale bluish grey or plumbeous.
miscellaneous. In Sind the Mohanas or inland fishermen use captive
tethered pelicans as decoys. They also use the skin stretched over a frame
as a helmet for stealthily approaching ducks and coots in water with bodies
submerged, and capturing them by pulling them under by their legs one by
one.
Family Sulidae: Boobies
Sea birds of the size of large ducks, e.g. Brahminy, to larger than geese.
Body stout, neck of moderate length, wings long and pointed, tail rather long and
wedge-shaped. Bill stout, conical, pointed, and slightly downcurved at tip, but not
hooked. Nostrils obsolete. Legs short and stout, feet large and fully webbed.
Plumage typically white in adults with the primaries or entire wing black; also the
tail in some species. Bill, and bare facial and gular skin, brightly coloured. Sexes
alike or nearly so.
The majority of species live in the tropical seas. Boobies can be readily identified
in the distance by their characteristic habit, shared with tropic-birds and sea terns,
of plunging headlong into the water from a height of 8 to 17 metres in the air for
fish. The large si/e and absence of streamers in the tail distinguishes them from
both the others. That they are capable of very deep dives in pursuit of fish is shown
by the fact that a booby was found entangled in a fishing net set 27 metres below
the surface. They breed on oceanic islands, on the ground or in stick nests in trees.
For further details see Murphy 1936:827-9; Witherby 1940, 4: 14; Palmer 1962,
1 : 280.
Genus Sula Brisson
Suln Brisson, 1760, Orn. 1:60; 6:494. Type, by tautonymy, Sula Brisson— Pelecanus
piscator Linnaeus
Characters as of the Family.
Key to the Indian forms
A Plumage white above and below, primaries black 1
B Lower breast and belly lighter than rest of plumage 2
C Plumage uniformly dull brown above, paler below, with faint dark
band across chest S . sula rubripes (juvenal)
D Head, neck, wings, and foreparts dark; belly and tail white
S r sula rubripes (brown phase)
1 Trailing edge of wing broadly edged with black, tail black
S . dactylatra melanops (adult)
Page
33
33
32
32
PELECANIFORMES
Trailing edge of wing narrowly edged with black, tail white
S. sula rubripes (adult)
2 Lower breast, belly, and under tail-coverts pure white; head, neck,
and rest of upperparts deep brownish black ; under wing-coverts with
broad white stripe S . leucogaster plotus (adult)
Lower breast, belly, and under tail-covcrts whitish mixed with
brown; head, neck, and rest of upperparts dull chocolate to fuscous;
under wing-coverts with or without pale stripe a
a Under wing-coverts with pale stripe
S . leucogaster plotus (juvenal)
Under wing-coverts without pale stripe
S. dactylatra melanops (juvenal)
23. Masked Booby. Sula dactylatra melanops Heuglin
Sula melanops Heuglin, 1859, Isis, 351, pi. 10, f. 2 and 3
(Burda-Rebschi, Somali Coast)
Baker, FBI No. 2187, Vol. 6: 288 {persomta ?)
other names. Blucfaced Booby; White Booby.
size. Barheaded Goose + ; length c . 80 cm. (32 in.).
field characters. The largest of the boobies.
Page
33
34
34
32
Adult. Mainly white: wing quills, greater wing-coverts, and tail-
feathers chocolatc-brown ; bill blue-grey, greenish yellow, yellow, or red;
naked skin of face and throat (the mask) blue-black; feet yellow, orange,
greenish blue, or slaty blue.
PLATE 2
1 Pelecamts p. philippensis, Spottedbilled Pelican (21)> imm. 2 Phalacrocorax niger. Little
Cormorant (28). 3 Phalacrocorax c, sinensis , Large Cormorant (26). 4 Ibis leucocepkalus r.
Fainted Stork (60)- 5 Threskiornis mtlanocephala, White Ibis (69). 6 Anhinga r. melanogaster.
Darter (29). 7 Anastomus ascitans, Openbill Stork { 61)4 8 Giconia e. episcopus, Whitenecked
Stork (62). 9 Leptoptilos dubius, Adjutant Stork (67). 10 Xcnorhynekus a. asiaticus t Blackoecked
Stork (66).
plate: xx\at s ;
touw
BOOBIES
33
Young (immature). * Head and neck dark brown ; upperparts greyish
brown 9 (Alexander 1955: 182).
status, distribution and habitat. Common out at sea off the Sind
and Makran coasts, at Ormara Head and elsewhere (Ticehurst, 1923, Ibis :
460). Occasionally blown in on the western seaboard during the monsoon
gales. Obtained thus at Karachi, Bombay, Cannanore, and Ceylon (Kalu-
tara and Putalam, on west coast). Once as far inland as Nasik, 1 12 km. NE.
of Bombay (S&lim Ali 1958, JBNHS 55: 358). The Ceylon specimens have
been recorded as of the Australasian race personata; but the races are not
readily distinguished, especially in brown juvenile plumage, and geo-
graphically they are more likely to belong to this, the SW. Indian Ocean
population. Sight record from the Maidive Islands (Phillips & Sims, 1958).
Breeds on Socotra, Mait, and other islands off the Somali Coast, on Rodri-
guez and Farquhar islands near Mauritius, and on Seychelles, etc. Perhaps
also in the Kuria Muria group off the Oman coast (Arabian Sea).
general habits. The plunging habit needs clear water in which prey
can be spotted at some depth, therefore the birds usually avoid the muddy
littoral. During the plunge the conspicuous dark tail is fanned out as a
rudder. For breeding biology of the species see Dorward 1962: 174-200.
food. Chiefly squids and flying fish.
Museum Diagnosis. See Murphy 1936: 846-7.
measurements. ( personata )
Wing
Bill
Tarsus
Tail
c?9 419-452,
103-114
c. 54-58
c. 180-200 nun
nearly always
over 430
(Baker)
colours of bare parts. Iris yellow; for rest see Field Characters (above).
24. Redfooted Booby. Sula sula rubripes Gould
Sula rubripes Gould, 1838, Syn. Bds. Austr., app. pt. 4: 7
(New South Wales, Raine Island, northern Queensland)
Baker, FBI No. 2185, Vol. 6: 286
other name. Redleggcd Gannet.
size. Large gull; length c. 41 cm. (26 in.).
FIELD CHARACTERS.
‘Adult. Plumage mainly white, tinged with buff; primaries blackish
brown; tail pale greyish brown; under wing-coverts mostly grey; bill light
blue with brown tip and red base; naked skin of face blue, of throat black;
feet red/
‘Young (immature). Plumage generally dull brown. In intermediate
plumage, in which the bird often breeds, the head and underparts are
lighter brown than the back and wings, whilst the rump, tail, and upper
and under tail-coverts are white.’ (Alexander 1955: 181-2.) Many other
puzzling colour phases besides, not entirely explainable by age.
Adult distinguishable from adult Masked Booby by small size, whitish
tail contra chocolate-brown, and red feet contra slaty.
status, distribution and habitat. Breeds on many tropical islands in
the Indian Ocean, e.g. Christmas Island, and in the western and central
34
PELECANIFORMES
Pacific. Ranges widely over the warm seas in these areas, Hume identified
a flock on the Laccadive Islands (Baker 1929, 6: 287), A specimen (storm-
blown?) taken in Ceylon in July (1936) in the neighbourhood of Colombo.
According to Jerdon, 1864, occasionally seen in the Bay of Bengal, where
Blyth later 'described it as * common \ However in the British Museum
there is only a single specimen actually collected in the Bay of Bengal.
general habits. The flight resembles that of a large shearwater. The
birds hunt in groups of five to fifteen strung out in single file, flying with
strong regular wing strokes low over the surface, plunging from the air and
chasing the quarry under water. Most fishing done in the evening or early
hours of the night. Sometimes gatherings of three or four hundred birds
over a large shoal of fish. Unlike other boobies, nests chiefly in bushes and
trees.
food. Mainly squids (cephalopods) , and fish. For more details of biono-
mics see Murphy 1936: 861-70; Gibson-Hill 1947: 115-19.
Museum Diagnosis. See Murphy 1936: 861-2.
MEASUREMENTS
Wing Bill Tarsus Tail
(from feathers)
c?9 403-421 90-97, once 88 c. 40-43 219-228 mm.
(Baker)
colours of bare parts. Iris dark brown; rest as under Field Characters.
Further details in Gibson-Hill, 1947: 116.
25. Brown Booby* Stda leucogaster ploius (Forster)
Pelccanus plotus Forster, 1844, Descr. Anim., ed, Licht.: 278 (near New Caledonia;
Baker, FBI No. 2184, Vol. 6: 285
other names. Brown Gannet; Common Booby.
size. Large gull; length c. 76 cm. (30 in.).
field characters. The commonest booby in most tropical seas.
Adult. Above , dark chocolate-brown; primaries blackish. Below , neck
and upper breast chocolate-brown ; rest white including undersurface of
black-margined wings. Sexes alike; male somewhat smaller.
x c. i
Young (immature) largely dusky brown; difficult to distinguish from
other species in immature plumage.
CORMORANTS
35
status, distribution and habitat. Breeds on islands in the Indian and
Pacific oceans, e.g. Christmas and North Keeling. Occurs uncommonly
in the Bay of Bengal. A specimen has been taken on ‘ the Malabar Coast V
Recorded several times from the west coast of Ceylon during the NE.
monsoon. Also on the Maidive and Laccadive islands.
general habits. Usually seen singly or in small groups of up to a dozen
birds or so. Rather more solitary in its hunting than the Redfooted Booby.
Like others of the family catches its food — mainly flying fish and squids
(cephalopods) — by diving from 25 to 35 metres up in the air and subsequent
underwater pursuit. Nests on the ground in the open, on sea cliffs etc.
For an excellent account of its bionomics see Gibson-Hill 1947 : 109-15.
Museum Diagnosis. For plumages etc. see Murphy 1936: 854 for the nominate
race leucogaster from which plotus differs only in details. Also Gibson-Hill 1947, 1950.
MEASUREMENTS
Wing
Bill
Tarsus
Tail
(from feathers)
3 <?(?
392-398
(av. 395*2)
96-101
41-45
198-210 mm.
4 9 9
406-426
(av. 417-5)
102-107
44-45-5
204-227 mm.
colours OF BARE farts. Iris (both sexes) grey; eyelids dull blue. Bill; light
greenish grey, 9 slightly paler with tip almost white. Facial, ramal, and gular
skins: c? dark purple, 9 light greenish yellow often with a slightly darker patch
in front of and below the eye. Legs and feet: c? pale arsenic green, 9 pale yellowish
green (Gibson-Hill 1950: 235).
Family Phaiacrogoragidae: Cormorants and Darter
Gregarious, fish-eating, colonial-nesting water birds. All our Indian species axe
characterized by black plumage, whence collectively known in Hindi as pdn-kowwa
or jal-kowwa (watcr-crow) .
Bill laterally compressed, rather long, slender and pointed; hooked at tip in
cormorants, stiletto-like in the darter or snake-bird. Nostril obsolete. A gular pouch
in cormorants, naked anteriorly. Neck and body long, rather spindle-shaped; wings
of moderate length. Tail long and stiff. Legs short; feet large, pelecaniform, with all
four toes united in a web for swimming; daws much curved. Sexes alike. Stance of
bi d when perched on tree or rock more or less upright.
Plumage less dense or resistant to water than in ducks and many other swimming
and diving birds. Becomes permeated by prolonged immersion and requires constant
drying out.
Further morphological details in Stresemann 1927-34, Aves: 804, 875; Van
Tyne & Berger 1959: 401; Witherby 1940, 4: 1-2.
Within our area found mainly on inland waters — jheels, rivers, irrigation
reservoirs, etc. Rarely also on brackish lagoons and tidal creeks. Expert divers.
Unlike grebes, swimming under water with use of wings, literally flying beneath
the surface, in pursuit of fish. The flight of cormorants, with neck stretched out in
front, is powerful, sustained, and rather goose-like in profile as well as head-on,
but the birds rise with some difficulty, flapping heavily along the surface to get
airborne. When alighting on the water, the long stiff tail is first to break the surface
and helps to check momentum.
36
PELECANIFORMES
breeding. In mixed colonies or heronries with storks, egrets, herons, ibises, etc.
Nests, skimpy to fairly substantial stick platforms lined with water weeds in trees,
rarely on rocks. Eggs, 2 to 6, pale blue or pale green overlaid by a chalky layer.
Incubation by both sexes. Young nidicolous, naked at hatching, down-covered
later; extraordinarily ugly throughout. Fed by both sexes by regurgitation, the
chick inserting its head into the parent’s gullet, wrestling vigorously with its wings
flapping, and not letting go till the parent breaks off with an effort. Nestlings beg
excitedly by shaking and swaying their upraised scrawny necks from side to side
and tickling the parent’s bill to induce disgorgement.
Adults commute long distances to forage for the voracious insatiable young,
flying out and back all together in goose-like V-shaped echelons or wavy diagonal
lines — a common sight at heronries in the mornings and evenings.
Cormorants are notorious for their prodigious appetites, and their depredations
on local fish populations can be potentially devastating. Nevertheless, the wholesale
indiscriminate persecution of the birds on this account, without a proper scientific
inquiry, is unjustified. Investigations on the food and feeding habits of these and
other piscivorous birds elsewhere have shown that the majority of fishes taken are
of low economic worth, or which themselves often constitute a far greater menace
to the spawn and fry of valuable food fishes than the birds.
Key to the Indian forms
A Large (c. 80 cm. —32 in.); glossy black above and below, flanks
white Phalacrocorax carbo sinensis (breeding)
B Mostly smaller ; glossy black above and below, flanks not white 1
C Plumage darker above than below 2
D Plumage lighter above than below 3
1 Throat speckled, head and neck black, yellow gular skin, head not
crested ( c . 57-63 cm. =23-25 in.)
P. fuscicollis (winter)
Throat black, patches of white feathers or plumes on head, with or
without yellow gular skin, head noticeably crested a
Throat white, no markings on sides of head, with or without yellow
gular skin b
a Pure white tufts of feathers on each side of neck behind ear-coverts,
yellow gular skin ( c . 57-63 cm.- 23-25 in.)
P. fuscicollis (breeding)
Scattered silky white plumes on forecrown and sides of head, no
yellow gular skin (c. 51 cm.= 20 in.)
P, niger (breeding)
b Yellow gular skin (r. 80 cm. =32 in.)
* P, carbo sinensis (winter)
Yellow gular skin lacking (c. 51 cm. =20^ in.)
P. niger (winter)
2 Brown above and paler brown or whitish below c
c Dull brown above, more or less white below, yellow gular skin,
wing over 310 mm. P. carbo sinensis (juvenal)
Scaly brown above, whitish below, flanks mottled brown and
white, chin and throat white, foreneck brown with white streaks,
Page
37
39
39
41
37
41
37
CORMORANTS
37
Page
wing over 250 mm. but under 300 mm *
P, fuscuollis (juvenal) 39
3 Snake-like neck, straight pointed bill, pale brown head and neck,
blackish feathers of uppcrparts streaked with silver brown, underparts
dark brown or blackish Anhinga tufa melanogastir (adult) 43
Underparts paler A. tufa melanogaster (juvenal) 43
Genus Phalacrocorax Brisson
Phalacrocorax Brisson, 1 760, Orn. 1 : 60. Type, by tautonymy, Phalacrocorax Brisson —
PeUcanus carbo Linnaeus
General characters as of the Family. Bill moderately long, rather slender and
compressed; culmen rounded and sharply hooked at end, with a narrow groove on
each side, bifurcating at the dertrum or nail, the lower branch running down to
the commissure. A gular pouch, naked anteriorly. Wing of moderate length: 2nd
primary (as.) usually longest. Tail rounded or wedge-shaped, of 12 or 14 very stiff
feathers. Tarsus short and compressed ; toes flattened ; claws much curved.
Genus cosmopolitan; represented within our limits by three species. (Sec Key,
above.)
26. Large Cormorant. Phalacrocorax carbo sinensis (Shaw)
PeUcanus sinensis Shaw, 1801, Nat. Misc. 13: pi. 529, text (China)
Baker, FBI No. 2180, Vol. 6:277
Plate 2, fig. 3, facing p. 32
local names. Ghogur , Pan-kowwa y Jdl-kowtva (Hindi); Wddd silli (Sind); Neidr
(Kashmir) ; Bontakaki (Telugu) ; Di dao-kwa in Cachar, Pdni kaori — all cormorants —
in Nowgong (Assam); Pan-kauri , for cormorants and shag (Bengal).
size. Large duck; length c. 80 cm. (32 in.).
field characters. A thick-set duck-like black water bird with a slender
bill, hooked at tip, and longish stiff tail. Swims low on water with only the
longish neck and a thin slice of the back showing. Settles on rocks, sand-
banks, and trees with an upright carriage. Often seen thus with wings and
tail spread out to dry.
x«.}
Adult (breeding) . Above and below black with metallic bluish or greenish
sheen, with a broad white patch on posterior flanks. Head, crest, and neck,
3a
PELECANIFORMES
more or less mixed with silky white feathers. Facial skin and throat white;
gular pouch bright yellow.
Large size, white sides of face, yellow gular pouch, and white oval thigh
patches diagnostic at rest as well as in flight.
In winter (non-breeding) plumage the hoariness of the head and neck,
and the white thigh patches disappear; the yellow gular pouch becomes less
bright. Then differentiated from our other cormorants chiefly on size.
Young (1st year). Dull brown above; more or less white below, progres-
sively becoming browner and then blacker everywhere. Fully adult breeding
plumage apparently attained in the fourth year.
status, distribution arid habitat. Resident and locally migratory,
practically throughout our area. In Kashmir, Ladakh and Nepal on lakes
at considerable elevations (e.g. Satpur in Baltistan, 11,300 ft. ( c . 3450 m.)
Meinertzhagen), and on the rivers debouching into the plains, and far up
their gorges. Right across the Gangetic Plain to eastern Assam, south
through the Peninsula, and in Ceylon. Ticehursl’s observations at Karachi
(Ibis 1923: 458) suggest that there may be a regular seasonal influx of
exlralimital migrants in winter, augmenting the resident population.
Frequents large inland waters — Himalayan torrents and lakes, and
lowland rivers, jheels, irrigation reservoirs, etc. Also tidal lagoons and salt
pans.
Extralimital . From Holland through central and southern Europe to
central Asia; Burma, Thailand, Indochina and Malaysia to China. The
species, in several geographical races, is found in North America, Europe,
Asia, northern Africa, and Australia.
general habits. Usually met with in ones and twos, or small flocks of
up to 8 to 10; seldom bigger. But very large congregations collect to breed
at traditional heronries such as Keoladco Ghana in Bharatpur (Rajasthan).
Hunts fish by diving and underwater pursuit. From the surface, where the
bird swims low down on the water, only the neck showing and the body
almost completely submerged, it takes a little upward leap before plunging
to dive, often remaining below for many seconds at a time. Sometimes joins
in the concerted community hunts of its smaller relatives. When satiated,
has been observed to dive and catch a catfish about 15 cm. long and play
with it as a cat does with a mouse. The bird swam ashore with the fish,
dropped it struggling on the bank, picked it up again and carried it back
into the water, released it and dived after it, caught it again and brought it
ashore, then leisurely repeated the whole performance several times before
swallowing it. Normally silent in the non-breeding season. See also under
Family.
For courtship display and general bionomics see Witherby 1940, 4: 2-10.
food. Almost exclusively fish.
breeding. Gregariously in many localities throughout the country, the
larger heronries becoming traditional and resorted to year after year.
Season , mainly between September and February dependent on the mon-
soons, the filling up of jheels, and the availability of fish supply for the
young. Recorded as follows: Sind (Eastern Narra dist.), November; N.
India (Bharatpur), September-December; Madras (Vedanthangal),
January-February: Assam (Subansiri river), December; Ceylon (North-
CORMORANTS
39
central Province), December. Nest. An untidy, comparatively massive
deepish platform of twigs about 50 cm. in diameter, lined with water weeds
etc. Built colonially, often in mixed heronries cheek by jowl with its own
species and other water birds, the nests sometimes touching one another.
Usually, however, a tendency to segregation into discrete mohallas is notice-
able. Normally in trees standing partially submerged, but an unusual colony
of hundreds of nests on ledges of rocks flanking the Subansiri river in Assam
is described by Baker 1935 (4: 425-8). Eggs, 3 to 5, sometimes 6, long ovals,
more or Jess equal at both ends, pale blue-green in colour, overlaid with a
white chalky layer, becoming stained and dirty during incubation. Average
size of 100 eggs 60-6 X 39-3 (Baker). Incubation period 23-24 days. Both
sexes partake in incubation and feeding the young. As in all cormorants, the
hatchling is extraordinarily ugly — naked at first, covered with black down
a few days later. According to Hcinroth five weeks in nest; full fledged at
two months. Nestlings demand food from incoming parent by violently
worrying and tickling — * attacking ’ — its yellow throat-patch to the
accompaniment of a persistent wheezy chooee , chooee , chooee — almost a
whistle.
Museum Diagnosis. For details of plumages, moults, etc. of the nominate race
sec Witherby 1940, 4: 5-7, 10.
In breeding plumage our race sinensis differs from the above (of the northern
Holarctic Region) by its head and neck being much whiter. In winter plumage the
two are indistinguishable in the field.
measurements. Dr G. B. Ticehurst gives for birds from India and Muscat:
Wing Bill Tarsus Tail
df*9 319-364 57-72 mm. [62-71 140-155 mm.
(Baker)]
colours of bare parts. Iris green ; eyelids dusky yellow. Bill dark homy brown,
the lower mandible except the tip pinkish- or yellowish- white. Skin of pouch
black and yellow, patched in varying degree, occasionally all yellow. Legs and feet
black.
miscellaneous. Longevity ( P . c. carbo) from ringing data, 18 + years
{Ring, 33: 148 — 1962).
27. Indian Shag* Phalacrocorax fuscieollis Stephens
Pkalacrocorax fuscieollis Stephens, 1826, in Shaw’s Gen. Zool. 13 (1): 91 (Bengal)
Baker, FBI No. 2181, Vol. 6: 279
local names. Same as for the preceding, often with a prefix meaning small.
size. Duck +; length c . 63 cm. (25 in.).
field characters. Smaller than the preceding.
Adult (breeding). Above , glistening bronze-black. Below , shiny jet
black. A pure white tuft of feathers on each side of neck behind car-coverts,
and a few white specks on head. On closer view, in good light scalloped or
scaly effect on back and wings (produced by darker edging to the feathers)
perceptible. In non-breeding plumage distinguished from Large Cormorant
chiefly on size; from Little Cormorant by bigger size, yellow gular skin,
and whitc-speckled throat. Sexes alike.
40
PELECANIFORMES
Young (immature). Above , scaly bronze-brown, tail and primaries
blacker. Below , chiefly white, with the flanks mottled brown and white.
The three species are difficult to distinguish in the field in non-breeding
plumage, without size comparison, and sometimes liable to be confused
inter se.
status, distribution and habitat. Resident, moving locally with con-
ditions of water and fish supply, throughout the subcontinent from Sind
in W. Pakistan to eastern Assam, south through the Peninsula, and in
Ceylon. Not in the Himalayas except in the foothills where the larger rivers
debouch into the plains. May occur in the peninsular and South Indian
hills on the newly constructed dammed reservoirs among the Small Cormo-
rants usually present there.
Frequents jhecls, rivers, irrigation tanks, tidal estuaries, etc. by itself or in
company with either or both the other cormorants. Abundant in Karachi
harbour at certain times of the year.
ExtralimitaL Burma south to Tenasserirn.
food. Mainly fish.
general habits. As of the Family (q.v.). More gregarious than the
Large Cormorant, oftener seen in flocks of large size and in association
with its smaller relative, the two species frequently hunting together. The
communal hunt, or battue, consists of a party of the birds hemming in a
shoal of fish, or intercepting it as it gushes from the sluice gate of an irrigation
reservoir, diving feverishly with little upward leaps and chasing the fish
under water. Great havoc is wrought amongst the quarry as one bird after
another plunges after them with energy, each to reappear presently with a
struggling silvery form held crosswise in the bill. This is quickly shifted into
position and swallowed head foremost with an upward jerk of the bill;
presently the bird dives once more. The manoeuvre is repeated again and
again till the birds arc sated, when they will sit about on a sandbank or on
rocks or trees in the characteristic upright posture, wings and tail spread
open to dry, preening themselves and waiting for appetite to return.
breeding. Season , overall July to February; as in the preceding and
in allied water birds generally, depending on early or late monsoon rainfall
and local water conditions. Usually August to October in northern India;
November to February in the south and in Ceylon. Nest, an untidy platform
of twigs, rather like a crow’s nest, sometimes scantily lined with grass roots
and water weeds. Built in trees either in small colonics of its own or — as in
Keoladeo Ghana (Rajasthan) — in enormous mixed heronries or * rookeries *
covering an extensive area of swamp with the partially submerged trees
loaded down with thousands of nests and hundreds of thousands of water birds
of numerous species — all three cormorants, darters, storks, herons, etc.
There arc often 30 to 50 nests of cormorants and other species in a single
moderate-sized tree, closely packed and tier upon tier, the lower ones soon
getting befouled and caked with the rain of excreta from above. Eggs,
3 to 5 or 6, pale bluish green with a chalky surface, smaller replicas of the
Large Cormorant’s. Average size of 100 eggs 51*3 X 33*2 mm. (Baker).
Both sexes incubate. Incubation period not recorded. Chicks naked at
hatching, soon becoming clothed in sooty black down.
Museum Diagnosis. See Key (above) and Baker, loc. cit.
CORMORANTS
41
MEASUREMENTS
<?9
Wing Bill
(from feathers)
257-276 50-61
generally
54-58
Tarsus Tail
c. 47-52 132-144 mm.
colours of bare parts. Iris green or blue-green. Bill dark brown, base of lower
mandible reddish horny, gular skin yellow; naked skin of face black-purplish in the
breeding season, yellowish at other times. Legs and feet black (Baker).
28. Little Cormorant. Phalacrocorax niger (Vieillot)
Hydrocorax niger Vieillot, 1817, Nouv. Diet. Hist. Nat. 8: 88 (East Indies —Bengal)
Baker, FBI No. 2182, Vol. 6: 280
Plate 2, fig. 2, facing p. 32
local names. Pan kowwa, jogrdbi (Hindi); Pan kawri also for shag (Bengal);
Neetikaki (Telugu); Kdddl kdgarn, Neer kagdm (Tamil); Diya kawa (Sinhala);
Kdkdtdrdvu (Malayalam).
size. Jungle Crow -f ; length c. 51 cm. (20 in.).
field characters. Smaller size, comparatively shorter bill and longer
tail, and absence of yellow on gular skin distinguish it from the Shag.
Size difference perceptible only when the two seen together.
Adult (breeding). Black overall with a bluish or greenish sheen. Upper
back and wing-coverts dark silvery grey, scalloped with black. A short crest
on occiput and nape and a few scattered silky white feathers and plumes
on forecrown and sides of head. In non-breeding plumage crest and white
feathers in head disappear, and throat becomes white. Sexes alike.
Young (immature). Above , brown, the back with paler scalloping.
Below, paler, with throat and centre of abdomen white.
Chick ( c . one week old). Head bald shiny livid red, with naked
scrawny neck. Body covered with dingy black down.
status, distribution and habitat. Resident, with local movements
depending on water conditions. Found through the subcontinent and in
Ceylon. Absent in the Himalayas and northern West Pakistan. Affects
jheels, rivers, irrigation reservoirs and canals, village tanks, tidal estuaries,
etc.
ExtralimitaL Burma, Thailand, Indochina, Malaysia, Indonesia east to
the Greater Sunda Islands.
general habits. As of the Family (q.v.) and very similar to the preced-
ing, with which it commonly associates and is frequently confused. Solitary
birds, or twos and threes on village tanks and tidal estuaries, to great flocks
on the larger inland waters, and enormous congregations at the traditional
rookeries, e.g. Keoladeo Ghana in Rajasthan and Vedanthangal in Madras
State. When not on water, usually seen perched upright on trees, stakes,
or rocks, sunning themselves, wings and tail spread open. In the feverish
jostling during the communal hunts, in which densely packed rabbles
participate, the birds often leap-frog over their fellows in their eagerness to
plunge after a shoal of fish — manoeuvres reminiscent of starlings at a swarm
of grasshopper nymphs.
42
PELECANIFORMES
food. Mainly fish; to a lesser extent also tadpoles, frogs, and crustaceans.
breeding. Season, chiefly July to September in W. Pakistan and N.
Tndia; November to February in the south; December to May in Ceylon.
JVkrt, an untidy stick platform about 25 cm. in diameter indistinguishable
from that of the Shag, as also are the eggs though somewhat smaller.
Average size of 100 eggs 44 ‘8 x 29-0 mm. (Baker). Normal clutch 3 to 5.
The nest is too small to contain the full complement of young when fairly
grown. When an observer approaches a nest-tree these crowded youngsters,
as well as brooding birds from adjoining nests, tumble plumb down into the
water beneath, scraping through the thorny branches. The adults dive, or
flap and patter along the surface to take off with the usual effort. The young
soon manage to clamber back into the nest-tree using their pliant feet with
the sharp hooked claws, the chin, and the stumpy wings to support and pull
themselves up the branches. In addition to nesting in enormous mixed
colonies at swamps, sometimes in multitudes dense enough to blacken acres
of denuded trees, the Little Cormorant also nests singly and in smaller
numbers on trees standing high and dry in the midst, or on the outskirts, of
inhabited villages at considerable distances from water, in the usual com-
pany of Cattle and White egrets. Baker found an exceptional breeding
colony in a swampy recd-bcd in Assam. Here the nests were placed about
1 * 5 metres above the water on masses of broken-down elephant grass, the
colony being completely screened from view by the tail growth. Both sexes
partake in nest-building, incubation and care of the young. Incubation
period not recorded. The marked disparity in growth of chicks of the same
brood suggests that the eggs arc laid at longer intervals than 24 hours
and that incubation commences with the first egg. Brooding from the
first egg must also serve to protect the clutch from nest marauders like the
House Grow which is a very serious menace at heronries all over the country.
Museum Diagnosis. For plumages see Baker, loc. cit ; Robinson and Chasen
1936, 3:246.
MEASUREMENTS
Wing Bill Tarsus Tail
(from feathers)
<?9 181-205 29-34 35-40 133-146 mm.
(once 212)
colours of bare parts. Iris green. Bill horny brown, blackish at tip, livid purple
at base. Gular and orbital skin black (non-breeding), purple (breeding). Legs
and feet blackish, tinged with purple flesh colour when breeding (Baker).
28a. Pygmy Cormorant. Phalacrocorax pygmaeus (Pallas)
Pelecanus pygmaeus Pallas, 1773, Rcise versch, Prov. Russ. Reich, 2: 712, pi. G
(Caspian Sea)
Not in Baker, FBI
local names. None recorded.
size. Little Cormorant
field characters. In winter doutfully distinguishable from Little
Cormorant, see Museum Diagnosis.
DARTER
43
status, distribution and habitat. Rare vagrant ( ?) to West Pakistan.
A single specimen in the BNHS collection (o? 3. ix. 1917, Gujar, Mashki,
165 m. SSW. of Kalat, Baluchistan — J. E. B. Hotson) is the only record
for our area (JBNHS 62(3) : 553).
Extralimital. SE. Europe, Black and Caspian Seas, Middle East,
Afghanistan, Russian Turkestan, Algeria, Tunisia,
general habits. Similar to Little Cormorant.
breeding. Extralimital.
Museum Diagnosis. As for Little Cormorant, but feathers of scapulars and upper
wing-coverts graphite grey, fringed or scalloped with black. Winter , glistening
black with white throat and rusty brownish breast. Simmer (breeding), head dark
rusty brown.
MEASUREMENTS
Wing
Bill
Tarsus
Tail
<??
200-207
(from feathers)
28-31
c. 36
140-147 mm.
Outer toe with claw e. 53-56
mm.
(Harlert)
colours or dare parts. Iris dark brown (not green), sometimes almost blue-
black. Legs and feet black.
Genus Anhinga Brisson 1
Anhinga Brisson, 1760, Orn. 1: 60, 6: 476. Type, by tautonymy and monotypy
Anhinga Brisson « Plotus anhinga Linnaeus
Bill slender, straight, very sharp-pointed with both margins of < ommissure toothed
near tip. No lateral groove; nostrils small, basal and linear. Neck very’ slender
with a bend or kink at the 8th and 9th vertebrae. Wing pointed: 3rd primary (as.)
longest. Scapulars elongate and lanceolate. Tail long, cuneate in shape, of 12 stiff
feathers.
29. Darter or Snake-bird. Anhinga rufa rnelanogaster Pennant
Anhinga rnelanogaster Pennant, 1769, Indian Zool.: 13, p. 12 (Ceylon and Java)
Baker, FBI No. 2183, Vol. 6: 282
Plate 2, fig. 6, facing p. 32
local names. Pdnwa y Pan duhi (Hindi) ; Silli (Sind) ; Goyar (Bengal) ; Pdmubdtu
(Telugu); Chakurt (Southern Gonds); Pambutlara (Tamil, Ceylon); Diya kawa, Belli
kawa (Sinhala) ; Maniori , Begiagir (Assam) .
size. Duck +; length c . 90 cm. (36 in.).
field characters. A black water bird like the cormorant, with longer,
slenderer snake-like neck, narrow head, and straight, pointed stiletto-
shaped bill. Tail long, stiff, fan-shaped.
Adult. Above black, the back and wings longitudinally streaked
and speckled with silver-grey; head and neck velvety chocolate-brown
1 Treated by some authors under a separate family, Anhingidae, by others in a subfamily
of Phalacrocoracidae (Anhinginac), or merely a genus as here
44
PELECANIFORMES
with white chin, throat, and a narrow white line from behind eye halfway
down each side of neck. Below, shiny black. Sexes alike.
Young (immature). Above , dark brown, head and neck paler (whitish),
mantle narrowly and dully streaked with rufous and silver-grey. Below ,
brown; tail tipped paler.
status, distribution and habitat. Resident, with local movements
depending on water conditions. Found throughout the subcontinent from
W. Pakistan to E. Assam (from c. 300 m. in the Himalayas), southward
through the Peninsula, and in Ceylon.
Frequents inland waters — swamps, jheels, rivers, irrigation reservoirs,
village ponds, etc.
ExtralimitaL Burma, Thailand, Indochina, Malaysia, Celebes (Sulawesi) .
Other races in Africa, Madagascar, Middle East.
general habits. Keeps singly, in scattered twos and threes, or large
congregations, depending on living conditions. More individualistic than
cormorants, and does not hunt in cooperative bands. Swims with body
submerged, only the snake-like head and neck showing above the surface,
constantly turning from side to side. An expert diver and underwater
swimmer using the feet to propel itself in pursuit of prey, wings held half
open. Unlike cormorants (and grebes) does not leap upward before plung-
ing to dive; merely stretches neck horizontally and quietly vanishes below
surface leaving hardly a ripple. When chasing fish under water, sways neck
back and forth like a javelin-thrower poising to throw. A special structure
in the vertebrae of the neck enables the sharp bill to be shot out as by a
powerful spring. The quarry is transfixed on the stiletto-like upper mandible.
It is jerked off smartly when the bird surfaces, shaken into position, and
swallowed head foremost. Though needing some initial effort in the take-off,
flies strongly with quick flaps punctuated with sailing, tail spread fanwise,
and slender neck with the characteristic kink in the middle stretched in
front. When satiated perches upright on a tree-top or snag like cormorants,
sunning itself with outspread wings and tail. As in cormorants, and strangely
enough for such specialized aquatic birds, the plumage is permeable to
water and needs constant drying. Occasionally spirals up on a thermal to
lofty heights and circles on motionless wings along with storks and pelicans,
obviously for fun.
When a tree on which darters are resting is approached, the birds hurl
themselves into the water below, dragging through the intervening tangle
of thorny branches as if shot dead. They go right under, but presently the
snake-like necks reappear one by one in the distance. It is possible that some
of such birds may be moulting their wing quills and temporarily flightless
(see Moult).
voice. Seldom heard except when nesting, a loud disyllabic chigi, chigi ,
chigi, etc. recalling the beginning of a guinca-fowl’s cackle; and various
grunts and croaks besides. Nestlings also very noisy when begging food.
food. Almost exclusively fish, including some seemingly much too large
for the bird’s slender bill and gullet.
breeding. Season . June /July to December in W. Pakistan and N. India;
November to February in the south; January to March in Ceylon. Nest ,
a largish twig platform built on trees standing in or near water, often
DARTER
45
gregariously, among large mixed heronries, e.g. Keoladco Ghana, Rajasthan,
the nests almost touching one another on the overcrowded trees. Eggs , 3 to
6, elongated, spindle shaped, pale greenish blue with a whitish chalky
coating, becoming soiled and dirty during incubation. Average size of 80
eggs 52 *9 X 33*5 mm. (Baker). Both sexes partake in incubation and feed-
ing the young. Incubation period unrecorded. As in the Little Cormorant,
there is great disparity between nestlings in the same brood. Incubation
commencing with the first egg is of survival value against nest-robbers
like House Crows, and also against the fierce midday sun. Chicks blind
and naked when hatched, except for some straggly down on head. White
down acquired in a few days, persists on head, neck, and underparts even
after wing and tail quills sufficiently grown for chicks to fly. Feeding by
regurgitation, the bill and head of chick being thrust violently into parent's
gullet.
On arrival of foraging parent at nest, the chicks jostle for food, upstretch-
ing neck, vigorously shaking and swaying it in a kind of St Vitus’s dance,
and tickling the parent’s throat. Parent lowers and opens bill wide, allowing
chick to thrust its entire head into the elastic gullet. The irritation within
apparently induces a retching effect, helping parent to bring up food. The
swaying and tugging extraction process lasts for several seconds, the parent
having to back away forcibly from the importunate young. Several visits
by both parents needed to satisfy the voracious brood. Nest young also
require frequent quenching of thirst. Water is squirted in jets from parent’s
bill into gullet of chick, sometimes spilling outside in the process. On fright
chicks, even when quite small, disgorge the food they have eaten into the
water below like hailstones, sometimes even hurling themselves bodily as
well. Many of the smaller chicks perish through inability to swim and to
clamber back to the nest. Adolescents usually manage to do so, using their
pliant feet and sharp-hooked claws, chin and neck, and the stumpy fore-
limbs to haul themselves up the trunk and branches, becoming gory in the
process if the nest tree happens to be a thorny one such as babool or Prosopis.
At the Keoladeo heronry in Rajasthan heavy predation of nestlings is
caused by Pallas’s Eagle ( Haliaeetus leucoryphus ) , a few pairs of which arc
permanently established there. They appear to specialize in darter squabs
particularly when half to three-quarters grown.
Museum Diagnosis. See Baker, loc. cit.; Van Tyne & Berger 1959: 402;
Stresemann 1927-34, Aves (morphology).
moult. Like most Anseriformes and some other groups, the Darter moults
all its wing quills simultaneously after breeding and is flightless for some weeks till
these have been replaced by new
feathers.
MEASUREMENTS
Wing
Bill
Tarsus
Tail
<?9
331-357
(from feathers)
74-90
42-47
202-240 mm.
(Baker)
colours op bare parts. Iris, inner ring white, outer yellow. Bill dark horny
brown; terminal half black, lower mandible yellowish. Legs and feet black.
miscellaneous. Darters are regularly employed by local wandering
tribes in parts of Assam and Bengal for catching fish in swamps and small
46 PELECANIFORMES
lakes (Stonor, JBNHS 47; 746). The practice is not widespread and fast
dying out.
Family Freoatidae: Frigate Birds or Man-of-war Hawks
Rather large, gregarious, dark coloured or black-and-white oceanic birds with
long, pointed, streamlined wings, deeply forked tails, and flight resembling that of
raptors. Bill long and strongly hooked, rounded in cross-section, the oilmen convex.
Nostrils obsolete. Throat bare; bright coloured gular pouch occasionally inflated
like a balloon to ridiculous proportions by courting male, even in flight. Tarsus very
short, stout, feathered. Feet small, all four toes united by a web near their base;
claws long, strong, much curved; middle daw pectinate as in tropic-birds and
cormorants.
Sexes dimorphic; female larger than male. For anatomical details see Baker 1929,
6 ; 295; Palmer 1962, 1 : 365-6.
range. Pan- tropical. Oceanic islands and adjacent seas, Non-migratory.
general habits and food. Chiefly fish and squids (cephalopods) neatly picked
up from surface shoals with an inward flick of the strongly hooked bill while hovering
close above the water. Sometimes flying fish chased and captured in the air. More
usually food procured by pirating — attacking and chasing boobies, tropic-birds,
etc. and forcing them to give up what they have caught. The booty is swooped off
in mid-air before it reaches the water, or scooped up from the surface as it falls.
They also swoop and carry off the young of colonial-nesting birds such as terns.
Frigate birds are magnificent fliers and capable of soaring and sailing for hours
at a stretch high up in the heavens. Owing to their short legs and long wings they
cannot take off from a flat surface, therefore they hardly ever alight on a calm sea.
spending almost all day on the wing. They roost at night on trees and bushes, and
also build their stick nests in similar situations, and on rocks. Eggs, usually 1 (or 2),
chalky white. Incubated by both sexes. Incubation period about 6 weeks. Chick
blind and naked at hatching; covered with white down later.
Key to the Indian forms
A Upperparts uniformly dark except for white band across hindneck . . 1
B Upperparts uniformly dark, no white band across hind neck 2
C Head, neck, and underparts white or rusty white, rest of upperparts
dark. Brown or rusty markings of neck sometimes becoming darket and
forming broad band across chest
Juvenal plumage of all three species
1 Throat black, breast and abdomen white F. andrewsi (female)
Throat black, breast white, abdomen black
F. arid iredalei (female)
2 Under parts uniformly dark F. minor aldabrensis (male)
Underparts not uniformly black a
a Throat, breast, and abdomen black, flanks white
F . arid iredalei (male)
Throat whitish, breast white, abdomen black
F. minor aldabrensis (female)
Throat black, breast black, abdomen white
F. andrewsi (male)
Page
47
49
47
49
47
47
47
FRIGATE BIRDS
Genus Fregata Lac£p4de
Fregata Lacipede, 1799, Tabl. Ois. : 15. Type, by subsequent designation,
Pelecanus aquilus Linnaeus
Characters as of the Family.
30. Christmas Island Frigate Bird. Fregata andrewsi Mathews
Fregata andrewsi Mathews, 1914, Austr. Av. Rec., 2: 120
(Christmas Island, Indian Ocean)
Baker, FBI No. 2191, Vol. 6: 295
size. Kite + ; length c? c. 97 cm. (38 in.) ; 9 c. 102 cm. (40 in.).
FIELD CHARACTERS.
Male (adult, breeding). Above , glossy metallic black. Below , throat and
breast black, only the belly white.
Female (adult). Larger than male. Above , same as Below , only
throat black, rest of underparts white, the white spreading up as a collar on
sides of neck (to clavicular region), not across hindneck.
x c. ^
status, distribution and habitat. Vagrant; possibly storm-driven.
Breeds on Christmas Island (Indian Ocean) south of Java, c. 11°S. The
record from Kerala (Prater, JBNHS 33: 446, and Synopsis : 11) proves on a
re-examination of the specimen to relate not to this species but to Fregata
minor (Abdulali, JBNHS 57: 667-8). Similarly the only Ceylon specimen
in the Colombo Museum, hitherto recorded as F. andrewsi , has been shown
to be F, minor aldahrensis (Phillips 1953). Therefore it must be emphasized
that so far no authentic record of Fregata andrewsi in Indian waters exists.
Museum Diagnosis
MEASUREMENTS
Wing c? 600-625; 9 635-643 mm. (Baker). Average of wing of 10 mature
specimens (J* 610; 9 650 mm. (Gibson-Hill 1947).
(For an excellent and complete biography of this species see C. A. Gibson-Hill
1947.)
31. Lesser Frigate Bird. Fregata minor aldahrensis Mathews
Fregata minor aldahrensis Mathews, 1914, Austr. Av. Rec., 2: 199 (Aldabra Island)
Baker, FBI No. 2192, Vol. 6: 297
other name. Great Frigate Bird (!).
48 PELECANIFORMES
size. Kite +; length c . 87-102 cm. (34-40 in.).
FIELD CHARACTERS.
Male (adult). Above , glossy black with a brown band on wings across
the median wing-coverts and innermost secondaries. Below , brownish
black.
Female (adult). Larger than male. Above , including head and neck,
black with a brown hind collar and light brown band on wings. Below y
throat and foreneck greyish white (or mottled brown and white); lower
neck, breast and sides white ; flanks and abdomen black. ‘ The female is the
only frigate bird with white underparts and whitish throat * (Alexander
1955).
status, distribution and habitat. Rare straggler (storm-driven) in
the monsoon. Breeds on Seychelles and Aldabra Islands (Indian Ocean)
lying between the equator and 15°S., and 45° to 60°E.
The only Indian specimen (tf, BNHS Coll.) is a storm-blown example,
entangled in a fishing net in a rough sea at the onset of the SW. monsoon
near Quilon (Kerala), originally misidentified as F. andrewsi (q.v.). But
there are three independent SW. monsoon sight records from Bombay by
reliable observers (Taylor, JBNHS 51 : 939) and two specimens from Ceylon,
both females — one in the Colombo Museum (also recorded as F. andrewsi
but since corrected), the other from the Tweeddale Collection in the British
Museum. Phillips’s sight record (JBNHS 55: 203) of large all-black frigate
birds in the Maidive Islands in December and January presumably also
relates to this form.
habits, food, etc. See under Family.
Museum Diagnosis
measurements
Wing
Bill
(from feathers)
Middle toe
Tail
<?c?
585-603
116-130
48-57
392-410 mm.
9 9
605-621
130-150
395-430 mm.
(Baker)
colours of bare parts (in nominate minor of Christmas Is. etc.) Iris (c? 1 9 ) dark
brown; a white spot on lower lid. Eyelids: o' 1 black; 9 crimson or madder pink.
Bill (c? 9 ) variable slaty, steel, or blue grey, often darker or brownish at tip; usually
a pinkish area at base of lower mandible in 9 • Interramal and throat skin: c? pale
scarlet, 9 dull crimson. Gular pouch in tf 1 light scarlet (non-breeding) to crimson-
scarlet (breeding). Feet: c? dark, or reddish brown with pale pinkish white soles;
9 flesh white (Gibson-Hill 1947).
PLATE 3
1 Ardea c, rectirostris, Grey Heron (36). 2 Egretta a . modssla. Large Egret (46), breeding.
3 Egretta g. garzetta t Little Egret (49), breeding. 4 Ardea p. manilensis, Purple Heron (37).
5 Ardeola g. grqyii, Indian Pond Heron (42). 6 Butorides striatus (conmtens). Little Green
Heron (38 RE). 7 Bubulcus i. coromandus, Cattle Egret (44), winter; 7a & 7b breeding. 8
Dupetor f. flavicollis. Black Bittern (58). 9 Ixobiyckus cinnamomeus, Chestnut Bittern (56),
c? ; 9a 9 • 10 Nycticorax n. nycticorax, Night Heron (52).
FRIGATE BIRDS
49
32. Least Frigate Bird. Fregata artel iredalei Mathews
Fregata arid iredalei Mathews, 1914, Austr. Av. Rec., 2: 121 (Aldabra Island)
Baker, FBI No. 2193, VoL 6: 296
other name. Mascarenc Frigate Bird.
size. Kite + ; length c. 80 cm. (32 in.).
field characters. The smallest frigate bird, * Adults are distinguished
from all other species by the conspicuous white patch on the side under the
wing * (Alexander 1955).
Male (adult). Above , glossy metallic black. Below, browner with a white
patch on each side of abdomen (lower flank).
Female (adult). Larger than male. Above, mainly glossy black with
a chestnut collar on hindneck and a brownish patch on the wing-coverts.
Below, throat and abdomen black; breast buffy white.
STATUS, distribution and habitat. Occasional straggler, doubdess often
storm-blown in the monsoon. Breeds on Aldabra Island, near Madagascar,
9°30'S., 46°30'E. Reportedly also on the more northerly atolls in the
Maldives r. 4°N., 72°E. (Phillips & Sims, JBNHS 55: 203, 1958).
Apart from sight records there are at least six examples taken on the west
coast of Ceylon, in June, July, August, September, and one near Jaffna,
Northern Province, in April. An exhausted storm-driven male on 23 June
(1955) near Colombo was in fresh plumage with ‘ testes enlarged * (Phillips
1953, 1956).
Only two records from India: a young bird taken near Trivandrum
(Kerala) in c. 1904 (Ferguson, JBNHS 16: 13) — specimen not now avail-
able for re-examination — and 1 (tf 1 ) at Bombay in July 1960 (Abdulali,
JBNHS 57: 668).
GENERAL habits, food, etc. See under Family.
Museum Diagnosis
MEASUREMENTS. Gibson- Hill
(subspecies?) as follows:
(1950) gives for
adults from
Cocos-Keeling
Wing
Bill
Tarsus
Tail
4c?
518-550
79-85
22-23.5
307-331 mm.
(533*5)
(82*2)
(22*75)
(316-5)
59 9
534-562
86-93
24-25.5
314-324 mm.
(547*0)
(89*4)
(24*9)
(318*4)
A c? from Ceylon measures: Wing 520; bill 81; tarsus 21; tail 304 mm. (Phillips
1958),
The Bombay specimen (c?) measures Wing 520; bill (from skull) 82; tail 325 mm.
(SA).
colours of bare parts. <? Bill grey, gular pouch red; feet black or reddish
brown. 9 Bill bluish; skin of throat red; feet red (Alexander, 1955).
Order Ciooniiformes
Family Ardeidae: Herons, Egrets, Bitterns
Long-legged, lanky wading birds, from body size of village hen to vulture, with
long slender flexible necks in most species. A kink in the middle (as in the Darter)
enables the neck to be retracted into a Bat S in flight as is characteristic of the family.
4
50
CICONIIFORMES
Bill long, straight, sharp-pointed, dagger-like. Nostrils oval, close to the base.
Tarsi very long; toes long and slender, the middle and outer toes united by a small
web at their base. Claw of middle toe pectinate or comb-like. Hind-toc well deve-
loped ; on same plane as the other toes.
Most species have curious powder-down
patches on each side of rump and breast
providing a sort of dry shampoo for
Middle toe and claw of adult degreasing soiled feathers. Plumage soft
Grey Heron showing pectinations, x c . 1 and loose-textured, usually white, grey,
purple, or brown; in some species speckled, barred, or streaked above and/or below.
Sexes alike or nearly so. In many species filamentous ornamental plumes acquired
during the breeding season, for the trade in which (as 1 2 3 4 aigrettes *) the birds were
greatly persecuted and in some places nearly exterminated (see Little Egret).
distribution and habitat. Throughout the tropical and temperate zones,
except on some oceanic islands. Marshes, jheels, rivers, tidal estuaries.
food. Fish, frogs, insects, molluscs, rodents, young birds.
breeding. Colonial; usually in mixed heronries of several species in association*
Nests, shallow stick platforms normally on trees. Eggs, normally 3 to 6, bluish
white or pale greenish blue; unmarked in Indian species. Young , nidicolous.
glassification. Ripley 1961: 11-19.
anatomical details. Witherbv 1939, 3: 125. Stresemann 1927-193*1, Aves: 810.
Key to the Indian forms Page
A Large-sized. Plumage grey above, varied below 1
1 Crown and crest vinous-chestnut, neck rufous-cinnamon (length
142-152 cm. --•= 56-60 in.) .Ardea goliath (adult) 53
Crown and neck dull rufous, foreneck streaked with black (slightly
smaller than above) Ardea goliath (juvcnal) 53
Crown black, crest grey- tipped (127 cm. — 50 in.)
Ardea insignis (adult) . 53
Crown white, occipital crest black, neck smoky white (98 cm. ■* 39
in.) Ardea cinerea (adult) 54, 55
Crown grey, crest black, neck grey (slightly smaller than above)
Ardea cinerea (juvenal) 54, 55
Crown black, neck ferruginous striped with black and buff (97 cm.
— 38 in.) Ardea purpurea (adult) 57
B Large-sized. Plumage dark brown to cinnamon brown above, head
and neck rufous 2
2 Dark brown above, head and neck pale rufous-brown streaked with
white (127 cm. — 50 in.) Ardea itisignis (juvenal) 53
Head and neck rufous-brown. Lower forencck streaked with black,
rest of plumage uniform cinnamon-brown in distance as result of
broad cinnamon-brown edges masking the purplish slaty feathers
(97 cm. = 38 in.) Ardea purpurea (juvenal) 57
C Medium-sized. Plumage mainly dark slaty blue above and below. . . .3
3 Throat and breast streaked with chestnut and white (58 cm. = 23
in.). Dupetor ftavicollis (adult) 88
Throat glistening white, bushy nuchal crest (58 cm.* 23 in.) ....
Egretta sacra (breeding — dark phase) 77
HERONS, EGRETS
5i
Page
Throat glistening white, crest of two long feathers (63 cm. = 25 in.)
Egretta gularis (breeding — dark phase) 74
D Small- to medium-sized. Plumage mainly various shades of greenish- or
bluish-black, white, and grey 4
4 Plumage generally white and grey, with greenish black crest and
mantle, wings paler than back (58 cm. = 23 in.)
Nycticorax nycticorax (adult) 78
Smaller (46 cm. — 18 in,). Plumage generally grey with greenish-
black crest, mantle streaked with pale greenish grey, wings darker
than back Butorides striatus (adult) 59-62
E Wings and upperparts dark sooty brown glossed with metallic green,
wing-coverts spotted with white, sides of neck and underparts streaked
with slaty brown 5
5 Crown and crest brown (58 cm, — 23 in.)
Nycticorax nycticorax (juvenal) 78
Crown and crest black (46 cm. = 10 in.) . .
Butorides striatus ( juvenal) 59-62
F Small- to medium-sized. Wings, tail, and underparts white; head, neck,
breast, and back variable 6
6 Head, neck, and breast pale ochre. Back dark rusty or maroon-brown
(46 cm. — 18 in.) Ardeola grayii (breeding) 63, 65
Head dark rusty brown, breast purplish, back deep blue-black
(52 cm. =^21 in.) Ardeola bacchus (breeding) 65
Head, neck, and breast pale ochre heavily streaked with dark brown,
back pale ashy brown Ardeola grayii (non- breeding) 63,65
Similar to above but back darker Ardeola bacchus (non-breeding) 65
G Medium-sized. Plumage generally light buff or rich chestnut 7
7 Top of head black, sides of head, neck, and upperparts rich chestnut-
brown, back finely vermiculatcd with black, underparts pale buffy
white streaked with black and chestnut. Under wing-coverts white
barred with black, primaries black tipped with chestnut and white.
Bill short and stout (51 cm. -- 20 in.) Gorsachtus melamlophus 80, 82
Top of head and moustache black, rest of plumage pale yellowish
buff, upperparts heavily streaked with blackish, underparts streaked
with chestnut, primaries black barred with pinkish brown (71 cm. --
28 in.) Botaurus stellaris 89
H Generally small-sized with underparts predominantly brown, buff, or
chestnut 8
8 Colour and pattern of upperparts sharply differentiated on crown,
back of neck, and mantle a
Colour and pattern of upperparts less sharply differentiated on crown,
back of neck, and mantle b
Colour of upperparts with no sharp differentiation of crown, back of
neck, or mantle c
a Top of head, upperparts and primaries black; large greyish buff
patch on wing; underparts pale buff with dark lanceolate feathers
across upper breast (36 cm. « 14 in.) , . . . Ixobrychus minutus (male) 83
b Crown black, back of neck pale chestnut, mantle dark brown (in ,
value, almost as dark as primaries). Buffy patch on wing (36 cm.
52
CICONIIFORMES
Page
= 14 in.) Ixobrychus minutus (female) 83
Grown blackish, back of neck pale buff, feathers of mantle dark
brown broadly edged with pale buff, buffy patch on wing
Ixobrychus minutus (juvenal) 83
Crown streaked with black and chestnut, back of neck chestnut,
mantle chestnut streaked with darker brown and buff, no buffy
patch on wing, chestnut streak down throat pronounced (38 cm*
= 15 in.) Ixobrychus sinensis (juvenal) 86
Similar to above but crown darker, back of neck chestnut, mande
brown streaked with buff, wing patch buffy, streak down throat
not pronounced Ixobrychus sinensis (female) 86
Grown, primaries, and tail black, back of neck rufous, mantle
brownish buff, wing patch buffy, underparts pale buff with dark
lanceolate feathers across breast Ixobrychus sinensis (male) 86
c Upperparts dark brown, underparts paler and unstreaked, middle
of throat chestnut streaked with black and white, tail black (58 cm.
*b 23 in.) Dupetor flavicollis (female) 88
Upperparts dark brown speckled with yellowish buff, underparts
yellowish white with blackish streaks on throat and breast, tail
brown (38 cm. = 15 in.) Ixobrychus cinnamomeus (juvenal) 84
Similar to above but paler and more chestnut
Ixobrychus cinnamomeus (female) 84
Upperparts bright chestnut, underparts paler, median streak of
blackish on throat and breast Ixobrychus cinnamomeus (male) 84
I Plumage pure white throughout 9
9 Neither crest nor breast plumes, but lacy plumes on back
Egretta alba (breeding) 68, 69
No crest but full plumes on back and breast
Egretta intermedia (breeding) 71
Crest of two long feathers; full plumes on back and breast; feet parti-
coloured; bill black Egretta garzetta (breeding) 72
Crest of two long feathers; full plumes on back and breast; feet parti-
coloured; bill yellow Egretta gularis (breeding — light phase) 74
Crest of thick, rather hairy feathers
Egretta sacra (breeding — light phase) 77
Feathers of head and neck orange-buff' Bubulcus ibis (breeding) 66
Genus Ardea Linnaeus
Ardea Linnaeus, 1758, Syst. Nat., cd. 10, 1; 141. Type, by subsequent designation,
Ardea cinerea Linnaeus (Gray, 1840)
Bill long, compressed, and pointed; culmen straight, edges of both mandibles
slightly serrated at commissure. Upper mandible grooved on either side; nostrils
rather long, situated near base. Sides of head to behind eye naked. Tibia partially
naked; tarsus long, scutellated in front. Wings ample and rounded; tail short,
nearly square-cut. Head crested; lower plumage very lax and soft; feathers at base
of neck below and on scapulars long and attenuated forming ornamental plumes.
Genus cosmopolitan.
HERONS, EGRETS 53
33. Great Whitebeilied Heron. Ardea insignis Hume
Ardea insignis Hume, 1870, Stray Feathers, 6: 470 (Sikkim Terai, Bhutan Duars)
Baker, FBI No. 2220, Vol. 6: 342
Plate 5, fig. 2, facing p. 96
local names. None recorded.
size. Considerably larger than Grey Heron; length c . 127 cm. (50 in.).
FIELD CHARACTERS
Adult. Above , like the Grey Heron (q.v.). Crown slaty black ( contra
white), the longest crest feathers tipped grey. Tail and primaries slaty black.
Below , lower breast, abdomen, flanks, axillaries, under tail-coverts pure
white. Thigh-coverts white in front, grey behind. Sexes alike.
1 Except for the whitish chin and throat, and the shiny white belly, under
wing- and under tail-coverts, the bird appears dull grey all over * (H. C.
Smith, MS.).
status, distribution and HABITAT. Resident, but apparently rare, in
Nepal and Sikkim terai, Bihar (north of Ganges river), Bhutan duars to
NE. Assam. East Pakistan, Arakan, and N. Burma where the upper reaches
of the Irrawaddy river mentioned as one of its strongholds. Affects inland
swamps, marshes, and stretches of rivers through forest. Not on sea coast.
Singly or in small parties of four or five.
general habits. As of the Family. Nothing specifically recorded.
breeding. Unrecorded in our area; only once in Arakan, Burma (April)
— a huge stick nest in a lofty tree, containing four eggs like those of Grey
Heron but larger, c. 70 x 50 mm.
Museum Diagnosis. See A. O. Hume 1878, Stray Feathers , 6: 470-1.
measurements, A male collected by H. C. Smith in Burma had wing 530 mm.
Baker gives for
Wing Bill Tarsus Tail
(from feathers)
c? ? 546-572 152-176 171-216 1 99-2 1 1 mm.
colours of bare parts. ‘ Iris ochraceous yellow. Bill and legs blackish * (H. C.
Smith).
* Loral skin, orbital skin, and base of lower mandible greenish; upper mandible
and inner margin of tower mandible blackish slaty; tip of lower mandible under-
neath greenish ochre, remaining portion mussel-grey. Tarsus black with homy
patches. Claws black ’ (Stevens).
34. Giant Heron, Ardea goliath Cretzschmar
Ardea goliath Cretzschmar, 1826, in Ruppell’s Atlas, V6gcl : 39, pi. 26
(White Nile, Bahhar Abiad)
Baker, FBI No. 2221, Vol. 6: 343
Plate 5, fig. 5, facing p. 96
local names. None recorded.
size. Considerably larger than Grey Heron; length c. 1 42— 1 52 cm,
(56-60 in.). Standing almost the height of a man.
field characters. like a gigantic Purple Heron,
54
CICONIIFORMES
Adult. Above , crown and crest deep vinous chestnut; neck rufous*
cinnamon. Upperparts, wings and tail slaty grey. Below , chin, cheeks, and
throat, white; elongate breast plumes streaked white and slaty black. Lower
parts, including wing-lining, deep chestnut or maroon. Sexes alike.
Young (immature). Above , head and neck duller and paler rufous.
Upperparts grey with rufous edging. Below , white streaked with brown.
status, distribution and habitat. Rare vagrant. Essentially an African
species, breeding on islands off the African and Arabian coasts of the Red
Sea, and in Iraq, etc. Appearances in India sporadic, rare, and somewhat
mysterious. Blyth got some live examples in the Calcutta market in 1845
and 1846, presumably from the Salt Lakes where he shot one bird each in
1878 and 1 879 ; a third seen in 1 880. In c . 1873 Hume saw six gigantic herons
on the river near Multan ( W. Pakistan) above the confluence of the Chenab
and Sutlej, with a great deal of rufous about the neck, which were probably
this species (SF, 1 : 105). Blanford observed one example each near Nagpur
(Madhya Pradesh) and in Baluchistan ; Stuart Baker saw five on the Meghna
river near Dacca in 1910. After that no record till December 1925 when one
was shot by L. R. Fawcus in the Khulna Sunderbans, now in East Pakistan
(JBNHS 31 : 523). Though described by the collector as ‘ not uncommon
there are no further reports since. Two specimens collected in Ceylon, also
in 1878 and 1879, and another seen on the latter occasion, but not again
since !
general habits. As of the Family. In its endemic area frequents tidal
creeks, mangrove swamps, estuaries, and inland lakes. Usually solitary and
very shy. Has a seemingly slow and ponderous flight. Archer 1937 (1 : 47)
points out that for the bird’s size its pale blue eggs are remarkably small
{c. 71 x 52 mm.), being nearly equal to those of the Crab Plover ( Dromas
ardeola ), which is one-third its size, or less, but lays large eggs.
Museum Diagnosis
MEASUREMENTS
Wing Bill Tarsus Tail
(from feathers)
<?<J» 570-589 184-196 1
Y 225-252 212-237 mm.
9 9 592-662 180-196 J
colours of bare parts. Iris yellow, with an outer rim of red. Bill dark homy-
slate, the lower mandible, gape, and commissure paler and yellowish. Legs and feet
dark slaty black (Baker).
35. European Grey Heron. Ardea cinerea cinerea Linnaeus
Ardea cinerea Linnaeus, 1 758, Syst. Nat., ed. 10, 1 : 143 (Europe, restricted to Sweden)
Baker, FBI No. 2217, Vol. 6; 339
local names. As under No. 36.
size. Length c. 98 cm. (39 in.) including neck and legs. Standing about
75 cm. high.
field characters. A lanky, long-legged, long-necked grey marsh bird.
Indistinguishable in the field with certainty from the resident Eastern
HERONS, EGRETS 55
Grey Heron (q.v.), from which it differs in being a darker grey above. Sexes
alike; female smaller.
status, distribution arid habitat. Casual winter visitor, recorded
from Baluchistan, Sind, Kutch, and Nepal (Rand & Fleming), but possibly
commoner and more widespread than hitherto believed. Shows great diver-
sity of status within a single population, some individuals (or local popu-
lations) sedentary, others — specially juveniles — tending to wander and
even migrate long distances. Thus, a ringed example from Kazakhstan
(40°48'N., c. 70°E.) USSR was recently recovered in South Kanara,
Mysore (JBNHS 59: 650). Breeds in the Palaearctic and Ethiopian regions
— Europe, N. Africa to Asia Minor, NW. Siberia.
Museum Diagnosis. See Witberby 1939, 3: 131-3.
measurements, colours of bare parts, etc. See under No. 36 below.
36. Eastern Grey Heron. Ardea cinerea rectirostris Gould
Ardea rectirostris Gould, 1843, Proc. Zool. Soc. London : 22 (New South Wales
‘ — India?*, Stone, 1913, Austral. Av. Rec., 1: 142 restricted • by
Ripley 1961, Synopsis: 12 to India)
Ardea leucophaea Gould, 1848, Proc. Zool, Soc. London ; 58 (India)
Ardea cinerea jouyi Clark, 1907, Proc. U.S. Nat. Mus., 32: 468 (Seoul, Korea)
Baker, FBI No. 2218, VoL 6: 340
Plate 3, fig. 1, facing p. 48
local names. Ndri, Sain , Kdbud , Anjdn (Hindi) ; Khyra (Bihar) ; Sada kdnk or
Kank, Anjan (Bengal) ; Saa (Sind) ; Brag (Kashmir) ; Narayana pachchi (Telugu) ;
Ndrdi (Tamil) ; Chardmunti (Malayalam) ; Kalapua karawal koka, Indura koka (Sinhala) ;
Kuddl (Kolis of Maharashtra).
size. Same as No. 35. Standing c, 75 cm. high.
field characters. A long-legged, long-necked marsh bird.
Male (adult). Above , ashy grey with white crown and neck, and long
black occipital crest. Below , a conspicuous black-dotted line down middle
of foreneck. Elongated black-streaked white feathers on breast. Rest of under-
parts greyish white.
Female similar but smaller, with the crest and pectoral plumes less
developed.
status, distribution and habitat. Resident. All India, both Pakistans,
Nepal, Ceylon, Maidive Islands, Andamans, and Nicobars (?). From plains
level to about 900 in. in Nepal, and between c . 3500-4000 m. in Ladakh.
Breeds up to c . 1750 in. — Vale 6f Kashmir. Affects inland water — jhecls,
marshes, rivers; also tidal creeks, estuaries, mangrove swamps, coastal back-
waters, and rocky offshore islets.
ExtralimitaL The Middle East, Burma, Thailand, Indochina, Malaysia,
E. Siberia, E. China, Japan, Formosa, Hainan.
General habits. Usually solitary, occasionally small parties; gregarious
when nesting. Largely crepuscular, hunting chiefly in the early morning
twilight and into the dusk. Still-hunts by standing motionless at the water’s
edge head sunk between the shoulders, or wades into the shallows neck
arched and partly stretched forward, peering intently for any fish or frog
56
CICONIIFORMES
that may blunder within striking range of the formidable poised bilk When
prey is sighted the bird cranes its flexible neck forward and freezes, waiting
for a favourable opportunity to strike. Presently the rapier bill is shot out
with lightning speed and the unsuspecting victim impaled or firmly secured
in the mandibles. With an upward jerk it is manoeuvred into position and
swallowed head foremost. Sometimes the bird will stalk its prey stealthily
or shift to a new vantage point, lifting up and putting down each foot
noiselessly and with studied deliberation. Single birds observed perched
all day long on snags — the remnants of submerged forest trees under the
waterspread of dammed irrigation reservoirs (e.g. Periyar Lake in Kerala),
almost flush with the surface. They procure their food in such deep water
by jabbing at prey as it swims or floats past or by short forays from the base,
bellyflopping momentarily on the surface to seize a fish. When disturbed,
the bird rises with a harsh quaarnk which is also uttered from time to time
on the wing. The initial take-off from the perch is clumsy and accompanied
by an awkward stretching of the long neck, vigorous laboured flapping of
the wings, and by much swaying and balancing with the long loosely
dangling legs. The launching is preceded by a slow swinging, or waggling,
of the tail up and down, as if to assist in the process. The bird then flexes
its legs and springs upward. Once in the air it flies strongly with steady
flaps of the broad wings, neck characteristically folded back in a flat S,
head drawn in between the shoulders, legs tucked under the tail and trailing
behind. It roosts at night on trees and mangroves, and also settles on them
in daytime when sated.
food. Fish, frogs, molluscs, crustaceans, aquatic insects, small rodents,
and young birds. In Kashmir alleged to do considerable damage to the trout
fisheries. However, a proper scientific investigation of the food and feeding
habits may reveal, as elsewhere, that by preying largely on predatory fishes
the birds actually do more good than harm to the trout. Drinks water in
the usual manner of birds, repeatedly dipping bill into the liquid and raising
head to swallow.
voice and calls. In addition to the resonant quaarnk uttered in flight,
a variety of harsh croaks and, at the heronry, a goose-like honk.
breeding. Season. Various. Mainly March to June in Kashmir; July to
October in northern India; November to March in S. India and Ceylon.
Nests gregariously, sometimes in pure colonies but usually in mixed heronries
of egrets, storks, cormorants, night herons, etc. Two best-known of such
heronries are Keoladco Ghana in Rajasthan, and Vedanthangal in Madras,
but smaller and less-known ones widely scattered over the country. In
Kashmir Valley the largest chenar trees ( Platanus orientalis ), often over
35 m., are selected for the nests; in Keoladco Ghana large kili-kdddmb
(Stephegyne parviflora) , and babool ( Acacia arabica ) and kandi (Prosopis spicigera)
are the most favoured, while at Vedanthangal the substrate is provided by
partially submerged Barringtonia racemosa trees. The selected trees arc usually
standing in water or in its close proximity. In tidal forest nests are normally
built on mangroves, Avicennta , Rhizophora , and other species. Rarely tall
dense recd-beds are used. Nest , a platform of twigs with a central depression
scantily lined with leaves, straw, and water-weeds. Often many nests in a
single tree, cheek by jowl with those of other tenants of the heronry. Eggs f
57
HERONS, EGRETS
normally 3 or 4 occasionally 5, broad to moderately long ovals, pale sea
green or green-blue, variable in shade. Average size of 100 eggs 58-6 x
43*5 mm. (Baker).
Both sexes share in building the nest, incubation, and feeding the young.
Incubation period 25-2’6 days. Incubation, as with most other occupants of
heronries, begins with the first egg as a protection from the fierce sun and
from nest-robbers like crows. Thus a marked disparity is noticeable among
chicks of the same brood. Chick in down grey above whitish below; the down
on the crown very long and erect with bristly tips giving a crested appear-
ance. Young fed by regurgitation. On arrival of parent at nest its bill is seized
by an importunate youngster in its own mandibles and vigorously twisted
and wrestled with till the parent disgorges the half digested food. This
cither taken by small chicks directly from parent’s bill or gobbled up from
nest floor when older.
For details of courtship, nest relief and other behaviour see Witherby
1939,3:126-9.
Museum Diagnosis. For plumages of nominate race, from which rectirostris differs
only in minor details, see ibid.: 131-3.
measurements. Baker gives for Indian and Chinese examples of rectirostris :
Wing Bill Tarsus Tail
(from feathers)
c? 9 422-475 109-135 140-162 165-180 mm.
(once 481)
There is no significant difference in size between the two races.
colours of bare parts. Iris golden yellow. Bill (breeding) bright orange-
yellow with a brown line down middle of culmen; (non-breeding) dark horny
brown. Legs and feet (breeding) bright orange-yellow sometimes with a pink tinge;
(non-breeding) greenish brown, marked with yellowish on the joints and back of
tarsi (SA).
miscellaneous. Longevity, A . c. cinerea (from ringing data) = 24 + years
(Ring, 1962, 33: 148).
37. Eastern Purple Heron. Ardea purpurea mamlensis Meyen
Ardea purpuua var. manilensis Meyen, 1834, Nova Acta Acad. Caes. Lcop. Carol. 16,
suppl.: 102-103 (Philippines)
Baker, FBI No. 2216, Vol. 6: 337
Plate 3, fig. 4, facing p. 48
local names. Ndri , Lai sain , Ldldnjdn (Hindi) ; Khyra (Bihar) ; Lai kank (Bengal) ;
Lai kol (Assam); Terra ndrdydnd pdkshi (Tclugu); Ch&nnarai (Tamil); Chdyamunti
(Malayalam); Karawala kokka , Barendi kokka (Sinhala).
size. Smaller and slighter than Grey Heron; length c. 97 cm. (38 in.)
including long neck and legs. Standing c. 70 cm. high.
field characters. A lanky marsh bird like the last. In direct sunlight
upperparts, including dorsal surface of wings, bright purple, a shade
darker than the Purple Moorhen.
Adult. Above , purplish blue or purplish slaty; blackish on wing and
tail. Crown and crest slaty black, rest of head and long thin neck ferruginous
boldly striped with black. Below , chin and throat white; long drooping
plumes on upper breast huffy white with black and chestnut streaks. Rest of
58
CICONIIFORMES
underpart?? slaty black and rich chestnut; under wing chiefly ferruginous.
Sexes alike; female with crest and pectoral plumes less developed.
Young (immature). Uniform cinnamon brown in distance, effect of
broad cinnamon-brown edges masking the purplish slaty feathers,
status, distribution and iiabitat. Resident and local migrant.
Throughout the plains of India east to Assam and Manipur, both Pakistans,
Nepal (lowlands), Ceylon and Andaman Islands. Possibly, as in Grey
Heron, augmented in winter by influx of extraJimital migrants. The nomi-
nate race, with more black streaks on foreneck, lias been obtained by
Meinertzhagen (JBNHS 32:91) in Baluchistan (Quetta, Nushki), where
it occurs sporadically (Christison, ibid. 43:486). Frequents j heels, reedy
swamps, lakes, and rivers.
Extralimital. Burma, Thailand, the Indochinese countries, China south
of the Yangtze and Ryukyu Islands, south to the Philippines, Greater
Sunda Island and Celebes (Sulawesi). Other races in Europe, Madagascar,
and Ussuriland.
general habits. Largely crepuscular. Solitary. Similar to those of
Eastern Grey Heron (q.v.). Perhaps shyer and more secretive, keeping
to dense reed cover, where it may be easily overlooked on account of the
bittern-like way it freezes on suspicion — thin neck and bill upstretched —
camouflaging it among the reeds. The bird flushes out with a fluster and
harsh croaking when suddenly come upon, and settles on a low tree in the
open until the covert is quiet again.
food and voice. Similar to the Grey Heron.
breeding. Season. Various; June to Scptember-October in N. India;
November to March in S. India and Ceylon. Usually nests in small colonies
of its own. When in mixed heronies with other species, shows a tendency to
segregation into its own mohallas . Nest, a platform of sticks and branches,
or rush stems, built in trees, dense reed beds, or screw pine ( Pandanus ) tangles
standing in fairly deep water, from a few centimetres to two or three metres
above the surface. The rushes or Pandanus leaves are beaten down to form
a platform for the nest. Eggs, 3 to 5, rarely 6, pale sea green or greenish
blue. Broad to moderately long ovals, close and smooth textured; very
similar to eggs of Grey Heron. Average size of 100 eggs 54*6 X 39*7 mm.
(Baker). Both sexes share nest-building, incubation, and care of the young.
Incubation period about 24-26 days. Eggs laid at longer intervals than 24
hours; incubation commences from the first egg, hence the very marked
disparity in young of the same brood. Half-grown chicks clamber about
freely among branches of nest-tree, but promptly return to nest on arrival
of foraging parent. The parent’s bill is seized and violently stroked and
drawn down to induce regurgitation. The food is gobbled up from the nest
floor, or as it issues from the parent’s throat.
Museum Diagnosis. For plumages of nominate race, from which manilensis differs
only in details and is hardly distinguishable, see Withcrby 1939, 3 : 136-7.
MEASUREMENTS
Wing
Bill
Tarsus
Tail
c?9
327-387
(from feathers)
115-144
121-145
120-142 mm.
(Baker)
59
HERONS, EGRETS
Males are appreciably larger than females.
colours of bare parts* Iris yellow ; orbital skin dull greenish or yellowish
green. Bill dark yellow, culmen and tip horny brown. Legs and feet reddish brown,
soles and hinder edge of tarsus paler and more yellow. In breeding birds bill and
legs much brighter orangy.
miscellaneous. Both this and Grey Heron highly prized as food by
certain classes, e.g. the mohanas or inland fishermen of Sind. The birds
are kept tethered by a leg, perched on floating bits of log or on the prow
of the mohanas’ houseboats to fatten for slaughter or use as decoys.
Longevity, A . p. purpurea (from ringing data): 16 + years {Ring, 1962,
33: 148).
Genus Butorides Blyth
Butorides Blyth, 1852(1849), Gat. Bds. Mus. Asiat. Soc.: 281. Type, by monotypy,
Ardea javanica Horsfield
Unlike Pond Heron {Ardeola) has no nuptial plumage. Tibia feathered nearly
to the joint. Tarsus comparatively much shorter than in Egretta or Ardeola. Feet
Bmaller and slenderer; middle toe with claw about equal to tarsus in length, but
much shorter than bill. Head crested. Scapulars and interscapulars long and
lanceolate but not disintegrated as in Egretta or Ardeola. Tail of twelve feathers as
in the latter.
38. Little Green Heron. Butorides striatus chloriceps (Bonaparte)
Ardea chloriceps * Hodgs.’ — Bonaparte, 1 857, Consp. Gen. Av., 2:129 Nepal. (Restricted
to Hitaura, Chisapani Garhi dist. by Biswas, 1959, Gurr. Sci., 28:288)
Baker, FBI No. 2231, Vol 6 : 357
Plate 3, fig. 6, facing p. 48
local names. Kancha hdgld (Hindi) ; Kdna bdk or Kuro bdk (Bengal) ; Kona
moochree (Assam) ; Dost konga (Telugu) ; Dos hi kokku (Tamil) ; Podi kokka (Sinhala) ;
Chinna kokku (Malaval am).
size. Pond Heron; length c. 46 cm. (18 in.).
field characters. Smaller than Pond Heron, chiefly black, grey, and
metallic dark green, but otherwise like it in general effect.
Adult. Above , forehead, crown, and long occipital crest glossy greenish
black; cheeks white; head and neck grey. Upperparts, with lengthened
scapulars, slaty grey glossed with dark green and bronze-green. Wing-
coverts dark glossy green. Wing quills greer -glossed black, with grey and
white tips and edges. Below , chin and centre of throat white. Lower parts
ashy grey; under tail-coverts white with blackish tips or edges. Sexes alike.
Young (immature). Above , brownish without the lengthened scapulars.
Crown and short crest streaked with buff. Wing feathers edged with buff,
and with apical white spots. Below , huffy white, heavily streaked with dark
brown.
status, distribution and habitat. Resident. Generally, but thinly
distributed throughout the subcontinent from Sind (in W. Pakistan) to
eastern Assam and Manipur. Also Ceylon and Laccadive Islands. Chiefly
60
CICONIIFORMES
plains and up to least c. 1000 m, in the Nepal bhabar and duns, and the
peninsular hills. Affects streams, lakes, ponds, etc., with dense marginal
shrubby growth. Also coastal backwaters, mangrove swamps, and tidal
creeks.
ExtralimitaL Burma, Thailand, Malaysia, Indochina, Indonesia, Philip-
pines, Sunda Islands, Celebes (Sulawesi). Numerous other races occur in
S. America, Africa, Indian Ocean islands, and eastern Asia south to Australia
and S. Pacific islands.
c. \
general habits. Solitary; shy and retiring; silent. Crepuscular and
nocturnal, but also active during daytime, particularly in cloudy overcast
weather. Partial to shady nullahs and secluded rock pools in jungle streams
bordered or overgrown with jamun (Eugenia jarnbolana) seedlings, Phyllanthus
lawii , and similar bushes. Flushes when suddenly come upon, flying with
deliberate wing flaps, the thick and heavy-looking neck stretched forward
(not telescoped like heron’s), and dropping into the shrubbery or alighting
on an overhanging branch a hundred metres or so farther. Normally keeps
during daytime to shady watercourses under the welter of tangled brush-
wood, uprooted trees and other debris brought down by monsoon torrents,
perched rather sluggishly on some snag or projecting root a few inches above
water, constantly flicking its tail up and down like a kingfisher. Very
parochial; occupies the same secluded spot day after day. Here sits patiently
craning down its neck now and again to jab at anything eatable that floats
or swims past. Or it stealthily creeps along the water’s edge and lunges at
prey within range. On suspicion, surreptitiously clambers up into the
seclusion of a thicket, descending immediately it is reassured.
food. Fish, shrimps, frogs, crabs, water beetles, etc. Mudfish or tieota
(Periophthalmus) and Belone strongylura (16*50- 20*25 cm. long) specifically
recorded among stomach contents of specimens.
voice. Normally very silent. When flushed and flying off utters an
alarm note K'yow, K*yow or K’yeJc , K’yek (y as in ‘yes’) (G. M. Henry).
* Tewn~tewn~tewn like redshank’ (H. Abdulali). Other notes not described.
breeding. Evidently double brooded. Season, over the greater part
of the subcontinent March to September, varying locally with water condi-
tions; in Ceylon March to July, Nest, a small platform of twigs with an
unlined depression for the eggs. Built singly, not colonially or in mixed
61
HERONS, EGRETS
heronries, though exceptionally several nests may be found in a circum-
scribed area. Normally 3 to 4-5 metres up in a small tree in a mangrove
swamp, or in one concealed among bushes on the edge of the stream or
pond; occasionally near a village, the bird’s silent and secretive behaviour
preventing discovery. Eggs, 3 to 5, smooth, fine textured, light sea green,
very like those of Pond Heron (q.v.) but curiously enough averaging larger.
Average size of 40 eggs 39*5 x 29*7 mm. (Baker).
Both sexes incubate and feed the young by regurgitation, the chicks
seizing the adult’s bill and vigorously twisting and stroking it to make it
disgorge (cf. Purple Heron). Incubation period unrecorded. Courtship
display and behaviour undescribed. Incubation commences with first egg,
resulting in considerable disparity in growth of nestlings in the same brood.
Museum Diagnosis. Indian birds, chloriceps , are paler than those from W. Java
{javanicus), with longer moustachial streaks and longer wings. Wing 13 174-
184; 6 9 9 177-182 mm. i\ 3 165-174; 2 9 9 166-174 mm. in javanicus
(Biswas, loc. cit.).
MEASUREMENTS
Wing Bill Tarsus Tail
(from feathers)
dT9 174-203 56-70 47-51 54-69 mm.
(Baker)
colours of bare parts. Iris bright lemon-yellow. Bill, upper mandible dark
horny brown, lower sage green; blacker in breeding birds. Eyelids and bare patch
in front of eyes bright yellowish leaf-green. Legs and feet yellowish leaf-green,
yellower on hind tarsys and soles ; daws dusky.
39. Andaman Little Green Heron. Butoridcs striatus spodiogaster
Sharpe
Butorides spodiogaster Sharpe, 1894, Bull. Brit. Orn. Cl., 3: xvii
(Andamans and Nicobars)
Baker, FBI No. 2232, Vol. 6: 359
local names. Unrecorded.
size. As last.
field characters. Similar to chloriceps but darker, especially on the
underparts. (See Museum Diagnosis.)
status, distribution and habitat. Resident. Andaman and Nicobar
islands. Affects mangrove forest along the shores.
general habits, food, voice, etc. As in the last.
breeding. No difference except that the nesting sites are chiefly in
mangrove trees in tidal swamps. Eggs averaging slightly smaller — 38*2
X 28*2 mm. (Baker).
Museum Diagnosis. Differs from chloriceps in being darker grey, especially on
neck, breast, and abdomen which are dark slaty grey. Sides of the head deeper grey
with less white.
measurements. Slightly smaller:
Wing Bill Tarsus Tail
c?9 167-171 57-60
COLOURS OF BARE PARTS. As in last.
41-44
58-62 mm.
62 Cl CON 1 1 FORMES
40. Paler Maldivian Green Heron. Butorides striatus didii Phillips & Sims
Butorides striatus didii Phillips & Sims, 1958, Bull. Brit. Orn. Cl., 78: 51 (Mai 6 Island,
North Male Atoll, Maidive archipelago)
Not in Baker, FBI
LOCAL NAME. Rabonde (Maldives).
size. As B . s. chloric eps.
field characters. Similar to chloriceps but much paler even than the
next form.
status, distribution and habitat. Resident. Common in the central
and northern atolls of the Maidive archipelago. Affects mangrove swamps
and the neighbourhood of beaches.
general habits. Not different from chloriceps . At ebb tide sits on
the knobs of coral on the beaches, darting out at small fishes and crabs
nearby. Flies inland as tide rises to perch on tops of palm trees or stand on
the sea walls and exposed coral outcrops, apparently asleep. Not shy.
41. Darker Maldivian Green Heron. Butorides striatus albidulus Bangs
Butorides albidulus Bangs, 1913, Proc. Biol. Soc. Washington, 26: 93 (Suadiva Atoll,
Maidive Islands)
Not in Baker, FBI
local names. Rabonde or Rabulli (Maldives).
size. As B. s. chloriceps .
field characters. Similar to chloriceps but paler.
status, distribution and habitat. Resident. Southern Maidive Islands.
Mangrove swamps and around beaches.
general habits. As in the paler Maldivian race (q.v.).
Museum Diagnosis. Paler than chloriceps. Described from the unique type collected
on Suadiva Atoll. Whether both races from within this group of islands can be
maintained needs investigating.
measurements and colours of bare parts. As in the other races.
Genus Ardeola Boie
Ardeola Boie, 1822, Isis von Oken, col. 559. Type, by monotypy, Ardea ralliodes
Scopoli
Gf. Bock, W.J., 1956, Amer. Mus. Novit. No. 1779: 35-57
Feathers of head, neck and upper breast elongate. Those of the two latter decom-
posed during the breeding season, when also a crest of elongate, lanceolate feathers
develops. Bill stout and about equal in length to middle toe and claw. Tarsus strong,
about same length as bill. Tail of twelve feathers, typically broad. Neck shorter
than in Ardea . Head, neck and back always coloured, but undergoing a complete
change of colour in the breeding season.
HERONS, EGRETS 63
42. Indian Pond Heron or Paddybird. Ardeola grayii grayii (Sykes)
Ardea Crqvii Sykes, 1832, Proc. Zool. Soc. London: 158 (Dukhun)
Baker, FBI No. 2229, Vol. 6: 354
Plate 3, fig. 5, facing p. 48
local names. Bagla, Andhd bagldj Chama bdgld t Kkimch bdgld (Hindi); Konch bdk
(Bengal); Bogli (Mirshikars, Bihar); Ral puchake (Gond); Kuldthu kokku , Kuruthu
kokku (Tamil); Guddi konga (Telugu); Kana kokka , Podi kokka (Sinhala); Broku
(Kashmir); Kulamunti (Malayakim).
size. Country hen +; length r. 46 cm. (18 in.).
field characters. An egret-like waterside bird largely snow-white
and prominent when in flight, effectively camouflaged earthy brown when
at rest.
Adult (non-breeding). Drab. Above , head and neck dark brown streaked
with yellowish buff. Back, scapulars, and tertiaries, ashy brown with pale
yellowish shaft-stripes on the scapulars. Below , chin and throat white; upper
breast white, streaked with brown. Rest of plumage, including tail, white.
Adult (breeding). Very handsome. Above , head and neck light yellowish
brown; crown browner. Long recumbent white or buff occipital crest of
lanceolate plumes. Back deep maroon with very long decomposed feathers
extending over the tail. Below , chin and throat white; upper breast ashy
brown, the feathers long and somewhat disintegrated. Rest of body, wings,
and tail white ; tips of first primaries tinged brownish. Sexes alike in breeding
and non-breeding plumages.
status, distribution and habitat. Resident; shifting locally with
drought and flood conditions. Throughout the subcontinent, and Ceylon.
Also Andaman, Nicobar, and Laccadive islands. In the plains and sea-
board; up to c. 1200 m. in the peninsular hills, and c. 1500 m. in the Kashmir
and Nepal valleys. Affects streams, jhecls, marshes, inundated paddyfields,
village tanks, stagnant roadside ditches, borrow-pits and puddles, even
kutcha wells, and tidal mudflats.
ExtralimitaL From the Persian Gulf to Burma and Malaysia.
general habits. Usually solitary when feeding, or in small loose parties.
Gregarious at roost; colonial when nesting. Its method of hunting is typically
heron-like, cither standing hunched up and motionless but fully alert on
the water’s edge or amidst a squelchy puddle, or stalking stealthily, lifting
each foot clear of the water and putting it down circumspectly, neck craned
forward and bill poised in readiness to jab at the quarry. Observed catching
fish by bellyflopping on the water from overhanging stone slab c. 1 metre
above (Muir, JBNHS 24: 366). Large numbers collect at drying-up village
ponds after the monsoon to feast on the concentrating refugee frogs and
fish. Rises with a flash of the white wings and flies with deliberate rather
lazy flapping, neck partly extended as in the Little Green Heron, not
folded back as in the Grey Heron.
food. Frogs, fish, crustaceans, water beetles, and other insects. Mud-
skippers or neota (Periophthalmus) from tidal swamps, and Ocypoda crabs
from between tidemarks on the sandy seashore specifically recorded. Also
among insect food the following identified: Brachytrypes achatinus , Atracto -
morpha crenulata , Oxya $p., Crocothemis servillia , Pelogonus marginatus, Trithemis
64
Cl CON 1 1 FORMES
pallidinervis , Platygomphis dolobratus, Dysticus spp,, Chrotogmus spp., ^whop-
pers, dragonfly larvae, crickets, ants, etc.
voice and calls. A harsh croak when suddenly flushed. Birds in a
nesting colony constantly utter a conversational wa-koo — very human-
like — interlarded with short croaks.
breeding. Usually in small groups of its own species, or mixed with
night herons, egrets, cormorants, etc. Perhaps less colonial than many
others of the family. Season , in most parts of the subcontinent May to Septem-
ber; in south India and Ceylon November to February; in Ceylon till
August. Nest , an untidy structure of twigs, slightly more substantial than a
dove’s nest. Built in isolated large trees or clumps such as of tamarind or
mango, often growing in the midst of a noisy town or village, and not
necessarily close to water. Colonies also sited in willows, as in Kashmir,
or in babool (Acacia arabica) or tamarisk (Tamarix sp.) standing in water, the
nests between two and four me ties above the surface ; likewise in man-
groves. If undisturbed, the same sites are used year after year and tend to
become traditional. Eggs , 3 to 5, smooth, fine-textured, typical broad ovals
of the family, pale sea green in colour. Average size of one hundred eggs
38-0 X 28-5 mm. (Baker). Believed to pair for life, but this not proven.
Both sexes take part in nest building; apparently the male chiefly responsible
for collecting the material which the female puts together. Both sexes
incubate and feed the young. Period of incubation 24 days (Lamba, Pavo
1(1)-1963). Feeding done by regurgitation as in the Grey and Green
Herons (qq.v.), with the same vigorous bill-seizing and demands by the
young.
Museum Diagnosis
MEASUREMENTS
Wing
Bill
Tarsus
Tail
(from fea tliers)
t?9
199-230
60-67
60-64
73-84 mm. .
Scheer (loc. cit. infra) gives for Indian birds:
(Baker)
Wing
Bill
Tarsus
length depth at base
c?<?
194-230
48-66
12-15
50-63 mm.
(210-9)
(60*6)
(13-8)
(56-6)
9 9
182-224
51-66
11-15
49-62 mm.
(198-4)
(58*8)
(12-9)
(54-5)
COLOURS OF
BARE PARTS.
* Iris lemon yellow.
Orbital skin greenish yellow.
Bill greenish yellow with blue on base, horny on middle part of culmen, black on
top and sides of anterior third. Legs and feet dull green; claws pale horny; pads
dingy yellowish white * (Biswas).
PLATE 4
1 Sarkidiornis m. melamtos , Nakta (115) c?. 2 Cairina scutulata , Whitewinged Wood Duck
(116). 3 Nettapus c. coromandeliatms, Cotton Teal (114), c? j breeding; 3a 0* winter.
4 Anser a. rubrirostris, Greylag Goose (81). 5 Dendrocygna Jamaica, Leaser Whistling Teal
(88). 6 Anser indiais. Barheaded Goose (82). 7 Tadoma ferruginsa, Brahminy Duck (90),
cf . 8 Dendrocygna bicolor , Large Whistling Teal (89)* 9 Anas platyrhymhos, Mallard (100),
c? , breeding. 10 Anas p. karingtoni, Spotbill Duck (98).
HERONS, EGRETS 65
In full breeding dress the legs and feet in some individuals become bright salmon
pink. In the majority there is merely a brightening of the yellow.
42a. Maldivian Pond Heron. Ardeola grayii phillipsi Scheer
Ardeola grayii phillipsi Scheer, 1960, Senck. biol. Frankfurt am Main, 41 : 145
(Hitadu, Addu Atoll, Maldives)
Not in Baker, FBI
local name. Hudu r ahull i (Maldivian).
size. Same as 42.
field characters. Same as for 42. See Museum Diagnosis.
status, distribution and habitat. Race peculiar to the Maidive Is.
Found on the southernmost atolls — Addu and Suadiva. Affects freshwater
ponds and rain puddles; also tidal mudflats.
general habits, food, voice and calls. Similar to 42. Recorded as
eating frogs, skinks, small fish, shrimps and insects. Has been observed
jabbing at large land crabs with the heavy bill.
breeding. No information.
Museum Diagnosis. Differs from the nominate form in having a more massive
bill in the male, and shorter tarsus in the female. Outermost primaries in adult pure
white instead of dusky.
MEASUREMENTS
Wing
BiU
Tarsus
length
depth at base
207-220
64-68
14-5-16
54-67 mm.
(21M)
(65-8)
(15)
(57-6)
9 9
186-199
53-58
12*5-14
49-52 mm.
(190-6)
(56-5)
(13-1)
(50-1)
colours of bare parts. € Iris golden yellow. Bill yellow. Legs pale yellow-green
becoming deeper yellow in c? cT and more rose in 9 9 during the breeding season.
Weight of type specimen 230 gm.* (Scheer).
43. Chinese Pond Heron. Ardeola bacchus (Bonaparte)
Buphus bacchus Bonaparte, 1855, Gonsp. Av., 2(1) (Malay Peninsula)
Baker, FBI, No. 2230, Vol. 6: 355
local names. Lampra (Manipur).
size. Indian Pond Heron + ; length c. 52 cm. (21 in.).
field characters. Slightly larger than Indian Pond Heron and very
similar to it in non-breeding plumage.
Adult (breeding). Above , head and neck, with long lanceolate nuchal
crest, dark maroon-chestnut. Back and some scapulars blackish slaty. Below ,
chin and throat white ; elongate breast plumes dark maroon-chestnut, blackish
towards ends. Rest of body including wings and tail white; the outer two
or three primaries brownish at tip. Sexes alike.
6
66
CICONII FORMES
status, distribution and habitat. Resident; shifting locally. Eastern
Assam, Manipur, East Pakistan, Andaman islands. Affects marshes, and
every sort of inland and tidal waters, as the Indian bird (q.v.).
Winter plumage, X c. i
Extralimital. China from Kansu and the Tsinling Mts south to Burma,
Thailand, Malaysia, Hainan and Borneo. Wanderer to Japan (non-breeding).
breeding. Breeds in the eastern Brahmaputra Valley in Assam (Lakhim-
pur), westward to about Tezpur, in small mixed heronries together with
Indian Pond Herons and the usual associates. Season , chiefly May to July-
August. Nest and eggs not different from those of the Indian bird, the latter
3 to 5 pale sea green. Average size of 50 eggs 37*7 X 28-4 mm. (Baker).
Museum Diagnosis, Non-breeding plumage, differs from A. grayii only in being
somewhat more brown and buff' on the head and neck, and rather deeper brown on
back and scapulars.
MEASUREMENTS
Wing
Bill
(from feathers)
Tarsus
Tail
C?9
195-238
61-69
60-64
72 - 90 mm.
(Baker)
COLOURS OF BARE
PARTS.
Iris deep golden yellow. Orbital skin
greenish yellow.
Bill yellow, blackish on terminal quarter, bluish at base. Legs and feet yellowish
green, the soles still paler; possibly as in A. grayii salmon pink in some breeding
individuals, but not recorded.
Genus Bubulcus Bonaparte
Bubulcus Bonaparte, 1855, Comp. Rend. Acad. Sci. Paris, 40; 722. Type, by
tautonymy, Ardea ibis Linnaeus = Ardea bubulcus Audouin
Included by some authors in Ardeola. Differs from Egrztta by its shorter bill and
feet. Naked portion of tibia shorter than inner toe without claw. Breeding plumage
very distinctive, consisting of golden buff hair-like plumes on head and back.
Only a single species inhabiting the warmer parts of Europe and Asia, and all
Africa. Has spread to America within recent years.
44. Cattle Egret. Bubulcus ibis coromandus (Boddaert)
Cancroma eoromanda Boddaert, 1783, Table PI. enlum. ; 54 (Coromandel)
Baker, FBI No. 2226, Vol. 6; 349
Plate 3, fig. 7, facing p. 48
local names. Surkhia-bdgla , Badami-bagld, Doria bdgld , Gdi bdgld (Hindi); Go
bdk f Gdi bdk (Bengal) ; Samti konga (Telugu) ; Cnni kohku (Tamil, Ceylon) ; Harak -
kokka (Sinhala); Johogali (Assam); Gochdndi kkdo (Marathi); Kurk pakkhi (Sind);
San-dung-il (= ‘following after cattle’ — Manipur); Kdlimdnti (Malayalam).
HERONS, EGRETS
67
size. Village hen; length c. 51 cm. (20 in.).
field characters. In non-breeding plumage a lanky snow-white bird
very similar to Little Egret, usually seen in attendance on grazing cattle,
not necessarily near water. Always identified from Little Egret by yellow
bill contra black. In breeding plumage unmistakable: golden buff on head,
neck, and back, the feathers disintegrated and hair-like. Sexes alike.
x f.J
status, distribution arid habitat. Resident, but in the Himalayas
migrating to lower elevations in winter. Throughout the subcontinent,
Ceylon, and the Andaman, Nicobar, Laccadive, and Maidive islands.
Plains, and cultivated Himalayan duns and valleys up to at least 1500 m.
altitude (Nepal), and to c. 1200 m. (possibly higher) in the peninsular hills
and plateaux (e.g. Sahyadris, Nilgiris), often as a daily commuter from
lower levels. Almost invariably in attendance on grazing animals, domestic
or wild.
Exiralimi tally the race coromandus occurs in Burma, the Indochinese
countries, Malaysia, S. China, Korea, S. Japan, Formosa, Hainan, Philip-
pines, Sunda islands, Celebes (Sulawesi), and Ceram as resident, migrant,
or on passage.
general habits. Gregarious. Usually seen in attendance on grazing
village cattle on damp grassy margins of tanks as well as dry fallows and
forest glades far removed from water. Also with grazing herds of wild
buffaloes, or rhinoceros wallowing in swamps and b heels in Assam. The
birds stand around amongst or on the backs of the animals fearlessly, or
stalk alongside running energetically in and out between their legs and
pouncing on grasshoppers and other insects disturbed by the animals’
progress. Every now and again the long flexible neck and pointed bill lunges
out at the fleeing quarry. Sometimes a bird will complacently settle on and
walk along the body of a wallowing animal to explore the inside of its ear
or some less accessible part. Blood-sucking flies, ticks and other parasitic
insects are picked off the sides and bellies of the grazing animals by the
birds springing up for them as they scurry alongside, or from other parts
while riding upon the animals’ heads or backs. To capture bluebottle flies
( Musca vomitoria) off the low herbage, the bird poises its bill, cranes forward
and sways its neck comically from side to side as if taking aim, and jabs at
the insect.
Besides attending on cattle they sometimes collect in large gatherings
(of up to several hundred strong) at inundated ploughed fields where the
freshly turned up soil provides ample feeding. They consort freely with
vultures at slaughter-houses and animal carcase dumps on the outskirts
of towns, for the flies and maggots these unsavoury places provide. Cattle
68
CICONIIFORMES
egrets have favourite roost trees, shared with crows, mynas, and other birds,
to which they resort every evening flying in a more or less disorderly rabble
in the characteristic heron style — neck folded back, head hunched between
the shoulders, and legs tucked under' the tail, projecting behind like a rudder.
food. Chiefly insects. From stomach contents the following have been
identified: Sarcophagidae, Agrotis sp. larvae, Chrotogonus spp., Acridium
aeruginosum and other grasshoppers, carabid beetles, earth-worms, and
flies (Muscidae). To a minor extent tadpoles, frogs and lizards.
voice and calls. A low croak uttered when one bird is supplanting
another, especially at nest colony. Normally very silent.
breeding. Season , mainly June to August in N. India; November to
February in the south; February to July in Ceylon. In small to medium
sized colonies of its own, but more usually mixed with cormorants, night
herons, egrets, etc., in large trees such as mango, tamarind, or peepul,
often standing in the midst of a noisy bazaar — even within populous cities
like Bombay, Madras, and Calcutta — not necessarily close to water. Eggs ,
3 to 5, broad ovals, very pale sea green, almost white or skim-milk blue.
Average size of 80 eggs 44-1 x 36*5 mm. (Baker). Both sexes share in nest
building, incubation, and feeding the young by regurgitation as in Purple
Heron (q.v.). Incubation period undetermined.
Museum Diagnosis
MEASUREMENTS
Wing Bill Tarsus Tail
(from feathers)
c ?>9 240-260 50-66 82-92 83-96 mm.
Males average a little larger than females.
colours of bare parts. Iris golden yellow. Bill yellow; orbital and facial skin
greenish yellow. Legs and feet black, the upper parts of the tibia, and soles, yellow
or greenish yellow (Baker).
Genus Ecretta Forster
Egretta T. Forster, 1817, Syn. Cat. Brit. Bds. : 59. Type, by monotypy, Ardea gar zetta
Linnaeus
Contains those egrets which in the breeding season develop ornamental plumes
on the back as well as, in some cases, on the breast and head. All are white at all
seasons with the exception of E. gularis and E. sacra which arc dimorphic with also
slaty phase. Smaller than birds of the genus Ardea and with much slenderer bills
and thinner necks. In winter plumage the species can be distinguished chiefly by
size.
See Key, p. 50 .
45. Large Egret or Great White Heron, Egretta alba alba (Linnaeus)
Ardea alba Linnaeus, 1758, Syst. Nat., ed. 10 , 1: 144 (in Europe ~ Sweden)
Baker, FBI No. 2222, Vol. 6 : 345
local names. Same as next.
size. Grey Heron length c . 96 cm. (38 in.); standing c. 75 cm. to
top of head.
HERONS, EGRETS
69
field characters. A large lanky snow-white heron-like marsh bird
with bare blackish legs, long slender neck and head, and pointed black-
and-ycllow or yellow bill. In the breeding season a bunch of ornamental
filamentous plumes (aigrettes) develops on the back, falling over beyond
the tail. Sexes alike. Solitary.
status, distribution and habitat. Rare winter straggler into West
Pakistan and Uttar Pradesh. Affects jheels and maj-shes.
ExtralimitaL Breeds in SE. Europe, W. and N. Asia to SE. Siberia,
N. China, N. Japan.
GENERAL HABITS. See next.
Museum Diaonosis. For plumages etc. see Witherby 1939, 3: 139.
MEASUREMENTS
Wing
Bill
(from feathers)
Tarsus
Tail
d’d’’
410-465
110 135
170-235
140-185 mm.
9 9
400-450
110-132
—
—
colours of bare parts. Iris yellow. Bill black, base yellow (ad, summer), all
yellow (ad. winter & juv.); lores and round eyes green; legs and feet black-brown,
sides yellowish, toes greenish black (Witherby).
46. Eastern Large Egret. Egre.Ua alba modesta (J. E. Gray)
Ardea modesta J. E. Gray, 1831, Zool. Misc.: 19 (India)
Baker, FBI No. 2223, Vol. 6: 346
Plate 3, fig. 2, facing p. 48
local names. Making bdgltJ, I ut ra bag Id ( ?). Tar bdgld , Bddd bagla (Hindi);
Dhdr bak, Bddd bdk (Bengal) ; Bor bog (Assamese in Nowgong) ; Lokienba (~ ‘standing
in streams 5 — Manipur) ; Peddd kilo konga (Tclugu) ; Mala konga (Gond) ; Peria
velldi kokku (Tamil, Ceylon); Loku sudu kokka , Badadel kokka (Sinhala); Bagla dchho
(Sind); Perumnnti (Malayalam).
size. Grey Heron length c. 91 cm. (36 in.).
field characters. Slightly smaller, otherwise identical with the
foregoing and indistinguishable from it. Size variable and deceptive; thus
in non-breeding plumage confusion between some individuals and the
Smaller Egret easily possible. In breeding season, especially during various
nest ceremonies, the diaphanous lacclikc plumes of the back are often
erected and spread out in ‘ showers ’ — a halo of rnist ! No crest. Sexes alike.
status, distribution and habitat. Resident and nomadic, shifting
locally with water conditions. Throughout the subcontinent and Ceylon.
Nepal Valley ( ?) and lowlands, and Maidive Islands in winter. Not recorded
in the Andaman, Nicobar, and Laccadive Is. Low country — at jheels
and marshes, rivers, tidal estuaries, etc.
ExtralimitaL Burma, eastward through the Indochinese countries and
Malaysia to S. and C. China, S. and C, Japan, south and east to Australia.
general EtABiTS. Usually solitary, and seldom more than two or three
separated individuals amongst feeding groups of the two smaller species.
More gregarious when nesting, but everywhere less abundant, more widely
scattered, and less communal than the other egrets. Behaviour and feeding
70
CICONIIFORMES
habits very similar to the Grey Heron’s (q.v.). Flight with rather slow
deliberate flapping of the broad wings, typically heron-like — neck teles-
coped, head pulled in between the shoulders, legs trailing behind. When
disturbed and suddenly taking off, and also during short foraging hops,
the long slender neck is fully extended, and twisted this way and that,
seemingly to counterbalance the swaying legs and produce an even keel.
food. Fish, frogs, crustaceans, water insects, etc.
voice and calls. Except for an occasional throaty croak when one bird
is supplanting a rival, very silent.
breeding. Colonial, in mixed heronries of storks, darters, cormorants,
Smaller and Little Egrets, etc. Season , July to September in Sind and N.
India; November to February in the south; December to May in Ceylon.
Nest, a flimsy twig platform, c . 25-35 cm. in diameter, seemingly too small
for the bird. Built in trees of medium to large size standing by themselves
or in a grove or copse, either partially submerged or on raised ground away
from water. In the latter case it may be a large peepul or tamarind tree in
the midst of a noisy town or overhanging a public highway, with as many
as 40 to 50 nests of this species in addition to others’. Babool (. Acacia arabica)
and kandi ( Prosopis spicigera) trees in the Keoladeo Ghana Sanctuary of
Rajasthan, and tamarisks in the riverain and canal areas of Sind, are
commonly patronized. The nests here are scattered amongst those of other
species in the heronry without any suggestion of segregation. Eggs, 3 or 4,
smaller but otherwise identical with those of the Grey Heron. Average
size of 60 eggs 54*0 X 38-6 mm. (Baker) . Both sexes build the nest, incubate,
and feed the young by regurgitation, as described. Incubation period
unrecorded; in the nominate race {alba) it is said to be * probably 25-26
days \
Museum Diagnosis. For description of plumages etc. see Witherby 1939, 3: 139
for the nominate race, from which modesta differs only in being smaller. Generally
distinguishable from Egretta i . intermedia (next species) by its wing length of over
350 mm. and tarsus over 160 mm. contra wing under 350 and tarsus under 150 mm.
But females arc smaller, and furthermore there is considerable individual variation
in size, sometimes producing an overlap or near-overlap in these measurements.
Therefore, identifying individual examples in non-breeding plumage is not always
satisfactory, and in some cases even impossible.
MEASUREMENTS
Wing
Bill
Tarsus
Tail
(from feathers)
China specimens
5
360-370
109-111
173-5-175
139 150 mm.
(Foochow)
4 9 9
345-361
95-104
(one 163)
152-157
130-143 mm.
Breeding males have the train of dorsal ornamental plumes projecting from about
92 to 165 mm. beyond tip of tail; females about 38 to 90 mm. (La Touche 1931-4,
2:446).
Wing
Bill
(from skull)
Tarsus
Tail
Indian specimens
(Gujarat &
6
d'd”
355-375
103-117
146-165
125-5-143 mm.
Ceylon)
6
o
o
337-365
97-100*5
136-160
120-13(1 mm.
(SA, HW)
HERONS, EGRETS 71
Baker gives the range of modesta 9 as Wing 354-391; bill (from feathers)
104-116 mm. and says ‘ Bill much more slender than in 2s. a . alba \
colours of bare parts. Breeding: Iris bright lemon-yellow. Bill black, yellow
at base. Orbital skin and lores bright verdigris green. Legs: tibia bright rose-pink;
tarsus and feet pinkish brown or black. Non-breeding: Bill orange-yellow. Orbital
and facial skin greenish yellow. Legs, feet, and claws, black.
miscellaneous. Longevity, E . a. alba (from ringing data) : c* 10 years
{Ring, 1962, 33: 148).
47, 48. Smaller or Median Egret* Egretta intermedia intermedia (Wagler)
Ardea intermedia Wagler, 1 829, Isis von Oken, col. 659 (Java)
Baker, FBI No. 2224, vol. 6: 347
local names. Pdtdngkhd bdgld, Pdtokhd bdgld , Kdrchxd bdgld (Hindi); Korchi bdk
(Bengal) ; Bdglo dchho (Sind) ; Lang khong sang (Manipur) ; Velldi kokku (Tamil) ; Sudu
kokka (Sinhala); Telia konga (Telugu),
size. Length c . 45 cm. (26 in.).
field characters. Slightly smaller, otherwise very like Eastern Large
Egret; non-breeding birds often indistinguishable from it. In breeding
plumage presence of decomposed filamentous plumes on back as well as breast
diagnostic. No crest. Sexes alike. Less solitary than Large, less gregarious
than Little Egret.
status, distribution and habitat. Resident and nomadic, shifting
locally with water conditions. Throughout the subcontinent, Ceylon, Anda-
man and Nicobar islands. Low country and plateaux; to about 1400 m.
altitude in Nepal Valley. Affects jheels, marshes, inundations; also
coastal backwaters, tidal estuaries, and mangrove swamps.
Extralimilal. Burma, Thailand, Indochinese countries, Malaysia, east
to China and Japan, south to Greater Sunda Is. and the Philippines. Resident
in some of the areas, migratory in others.
general habits. Not different from Large Egret except that it is
somewhat more social even in the non -breeding season, occasionally seen in
small flocks.
breeding. Colonial, in mixed heronries with the usual associates.
Season, nest, and nest sites as in the previous species. In Sind inundated
tamarisk forest, and in Kutch and other coastal areas tidal mangrove
forests are commonly resorted to for nesting. Eggs , 3 or 4, sometimes 5, pale
sea green, smooth-surfaced broad ovals. Average size of 60 eggs 47*6 X
35*8 mm. (Baker). As in other egrets, both sexes share all domestic chores.
Incubation period undetermined, but believed to be about 21 days.
Museum Diagnosis. For distinguishing this from E. a . modesta see remarks under
that species.
Egretta intermedia palleuca Deignan, 1947, Proc. Biol. Soc. Washington, 60(1): 97
(Muang Chiang Rai, Siam) is based on the mistaken premise that eastern birds
retain a yellow bill at all seasons. La Touche (1931-4, 2: 447), and Smythies (1953:
529) both describe the bill as black in the breeding season, and the former as
• yellow, pointed with black in winter *, therefore exactly as in typical intermedia
from western India. There seems no justification for retaining this race.
72
CICONIIFORMES
measurements. Baker gives as follows ;
Wing
Bill
(from feathers)
Tarsus
Tail
9 304-333
73-97
122-148
116-135 mm.
(once 354)
(twice 68,
once 1 18)
(once 1 14)
Three specimens from Travancore, Ceylon and Rajasthan measure:
2 c? c? 1 wing 302, 316; bill (1) 94 (from skull), (1) 77.5 (from feathers) ; tarsus
111-5, 120; tail 121*5, 124 mm. 1 9 wing 294; bill (from feathers) 69; tarsus 102;
tail 1 1 7 mm.
colours of bare parts. Iris lemon-yellow. Bill black, yellow at base (breeding) ;
lemon -yellow, dusky at tip browner at base (non-breeding). Naked lores and infra-
orbital skin yellowish green (breeding); yellowish (non-breeding). Legs and
feet dusky black, greenish on the joints and tibia. Rose-pink or salmon-pink in legs
of breeding birds unrecorded in this species.
49. Little Egret. Egretta garzetla garz?tia (Linnaeus)
Ardea Garzetla I.innacus, 1766, Syst, Nat., ed. 12, 1: 237
(‘ Oriente ’ =- northeast Italy)
Baker, FBI No. 2225, Vol. 6: 348
Plate 3, fig. 3, facing p. 48
local names. Kilchia or Kdrchid bdgld (Hindi); Bdtaro (Sind); Chhota korchS bak
(Bengal); Tcteri bog (Assamese in Nowgong) ; Chinna tel Id konga (Telugu) ; Chinrtd
vellai kokku (Tamil, Ceylon); Sudu kokka (Sirihala) ; Chinnamunti (Malayalam).
size. Village hen with longer neck and legs; length c . 63 cm. (25 in.).
field characters. A lanky snow-white waterside bird — smaller
replica of the Large and Median Egrets. Similar also to non-breeding Cattle
Egret but distinguished from it at all seasons by black v . yellow bill, parti-
coloured legs and feet (black and yellow), arid also usually by habitat. In
breeding season develops a drooping nuchal crest of two long narrow
plumes in addition to filamentous ornamental feathers on both back
(scapulars) and breast ; the latter less decomposed. Sexes alike.
status, distribution and habitat. Resident, shifting locally with
water conditions. Throughout the subcontinent, chiefly lowlands and
plateaux; to about 1400 m. altitude in the Himalayas (Nepal Valley) and
at least 900 m. in the peninsular hills. Also Ceylon, Andaman, Nicobar,
Laccadive (?), and Maidive islands. Affects inland waters — marshes,
HERONS, EGRETS 73
jheels, inundated paddyfields, etc. Rarely tidal estuaries, mudflats and
backwaters; hardly ever the seashore.
ExtralimitaL S. and E. Europe, N. and E. Africa, Middle East, Iran,
Afghanistan, Burma, Malaysia, east to China, Hainan, and Japan. Partly
migratory.
general habits. More gregarious than the two larger white egrets,
usually in flocks on the edge of water or wading in the shallows. Stilbhunts
or stalks prey in the characteristic heron mariner, lunging out with its
flexible neck and dagger bill to seize the quarry. FJies with steady but
leisurely flaps of the broad rounded wings, head and neck drawn in when
commuting or on long flights. Roosts on favourite trees (‘ rookeries *) in
association with other species.
food. Fish, frogs, crustaceans, water insects, etc.
breeding. Colonial, in mixed heronries. Season , July to September in
Sind and N. India; November to February in the south; December to May
in Ceylon — dependent on water conditions. Nest , the typical flimsy cupped
structure of twigs — only slightly more substantial than a dove’s — placed
2 to 6 metres up in a tree, single or one of a grove standing in a tank or
jheel, or on dry land; sometimes away from water and in the ^nidst of a
village or town. The nests are often close together, even touching others of
the same or different species. Inundated tamarisk forests in Sind, and
partially submerged babool and karidi jungle in monsoon-flooded semi-
desert areas in NW. India (Kutch, Rajasthan, etc.) are favourite nesting
sites. Similarly situated Barringtonia racemosa groves and Pandanus thickets
in South India (Vcdanthangal in Madras; Srirangapatnam in Mysore),
and mangroves in the Bengal Sunderbans are also regularly patronized.
But smaller heronries are scattered all over the country. Eggs, 3 to 5, typi-
cally heron, pale blue-green broad ovals with a smooth texture. Average
size of 60 eggs 44*4 x 31*7 mm. (Baker). As in the family, both sexes share
all the domestic chores. Feeding of young etc. as in the species described.
Incubation period 21 — 25 days.
Museum Diagnosis. For details of plumages etc. see Witherby 1939, 3: HI.
MEASUREMENTS
Wing
Bill
(from feathers)
Tarsus
Tail
c?9
257-269
79-91
(from skull)
99-110
92-108 mm.
(Baker)
cfc? 1
260-295
85-92
100-110
90- 110 mm.
99
(240) 250 282
78-90
—
(Witherby)
colours of bare parts. (Breeding and non-breeding) Iris yellow. Facial skin
greenish yellow. Bill black, the gape and base of lower mandible yellowish. Tarsus
and tibia black; feet yellow, greenish yellow, or mixed black and yellow; soles
almost all yellow. In a female in breeding condition from Nepal, ‘Ocular skin
bluish purple. Bill black, base of upper mandible bluish purple, lower mandible
with a small basal area of bluish purple. Legs black, feet orange-yellow * (Ripley).
miscellaneous. Egret Farming . Some years ago this species used to be
extensively and lucratively farmed by the mirbahars or mohanas (inland
74
CICONII FORMES
fisherfolk) of Sind on many of the local dhands (jheels) for their valuable
ornamental plumes known to the trade as ‘ aigrettes * or * ospreys *. The
birds were pinioned and housed in spacious pens of reed matting — 50 or
60 couples to a pen — where they moved about freely and became quite
tame. They were well fed and cared for, and between March and September
they paired off, built their own nests from twigs provided by the owners,
laid from 3 to 5 eggs, and incubated them. After hatching the chicks were
left with the parents for about a week, then removed and hand reared. They
attained maturity in about 12 months. The parents commenced laying a
second clutch almost immediately after the removal of the brood, and soon
brought up another family. In this way they sometimes produced 4 and
even 5 successive clutches during the season. The dorsal plumes were
extracted in a humane manner without injury to the birds. There were four
pluckings — one every three months — and each bird seldom produced
less than a tola (11-66 gm.) in the year. Round about the year 1914, the
feathers fetched from Rs. 10 to Rs. 15 per tola in the Indian market (even
MO to 28 times their weight in silver ’), but as much as £15 per oz.
(28-35 gm.) when smuggled to Europe, a trade which was apparently
practised pn a large scale by specialists in the business! The lack of official
encouragement to this profitable cottage industry by a controlled relaxation
of the ban on export of wild birds’ plumage in favour of genuinely farm-
produced feathers — but even more the change in women’s fashions in
clothing — has virtually put an end to the egret-farming industry. But to
our knowledge some small egret farms existed in Sind up to 1930, and some
may possibly survive to this day. While the farming concerned the Little
Egret almost exclusively, before statutory protection was given enormous
numbers of egrets of all species were slaughtered by gangs of professional
hunters, armed with snares and muzzle-loading guns, who scoured the
countryside visiting one breeding heronry after another and systematically
slaying the adults, often leaving the nestlings, to starve and perish. In the
more accessible areas this vandalism had reduced the egret population to
the verge of extinction. The species that suffered most were the three white
egrets — E. alba , E. intermedia and E . garzetta , but to a lesser degree also the
Cattle Egret (Bubulcus ibis) and the Reef Heron ( Egretta gularis ). (For
detailed accounts see articles on 4 Egret Farming in Sind JBNHS 23: 161 ;
27: 944; 28: 748, 751.)
50. Indian Reef Heron. Egretta gularis schistacea (Hemprich &
Ehrenberg)
Ardea [I jpterodas) schistacea Hemprich & Ehrenberg, 1832, Symb. Phys. Avcs,
(p. 12), pi. 6 (Red Sea)
Ardea Asha Sykes, 1832, Proc. Zool. Soc. London : 157 (Dukhun)
Baker, FBI No. 2228, Vol. 6: 353
Plate 5, fig. 3, facing p. 96
local names. Kdld bdgld (Hindi); Thirdmunti (Malayalam) ; Theerapu konga
(Telugu); Kdrdi kokka (Tamil).
size. Same as Little Egret; length c . 63 cm. (25 in.).
75
HERONS, EGRETS
fib id characters* General effect as of Little Egret, but dimorphic.
Adult in two colour phases: (1) pure white, (2) slaty grey to slaty blue-
black, with glistening white throat and upper foreneck. Some examples
intermediate, partly white partly slaty. In breeding plumage a nuchal crest
of two elongated narrow plumes and same sort of filamentous plumes on
back and breast as in Little Egret. White pliase indistinguishable from
Little Egret except by more solitary habit and seacoast habitat. Sexes alike
in both colour phases.
X c. i
Sub-adult (dark phase?). Above , pale ashy grey. Below , chin and
throat white; upper foreneck grey; lower foreneck, breast and underparts
including under tail-coverts and inner thighs, white.
status, distribution and habitat. Resident, nomadic, and local mig-
rant (see Breeding). Northern shores of the Arabian Sea and seaboard of
West Pakistan (where very common); shores of western India south to
Kanyakumari,and of northwest Ceylon; Laccadive Is. Rare on the eastern
coast, only recently recorded as resident and breeding from east of Nellore
and in the neighbourhood of Pulicat lagoon (Kirkpatrick, JBNHS 58: 275).
Affects sandy and rocky seashores, tidal lagoons and mudflats, and man-
grove swamps. Occasionally strays a few miles inland to freshwater swamps.
ExtralimitaL Coasts of Red Sea, Gulf of Aden, and Persian Gulf.
general habits. Solitary and somewhat crepuscular. Occasional
separated twos and threes, both colour phases together. Gregarious at nest
colonies. Wades stealthily into shallow surf on tidal mud, or among rock
pools left by receding tide, and secures prey by jabbing at it with the pointed
bill and flexible neck. Often seen sitting hunched up on a partly submerged
rock or fishing stake patiently waiting for the tide to ebb to resume hunting.
While stalking in the shallow surf, sometimes suddenly raises unopened
wings at the armpits, level with the back, crouching forward furtively on
flexed legs (as in a bird about to settle on eggs), wading deeper almost to
belly, peering intently into the water, neck craned out and bill poised in
readiness. From time to time also suddenly flicks the wings open and shut,
quite obviously to stampede lurking or £ frozen * prey by the sudden move-
ment. Flight and general behaviour not different to Little Egret’s, though
usually more mobile and active when hunting.
food. Fish, crabs, molluscs, etc. The mudskipper (Periophthalmus ) ,
procured in tidal mud, is a regular food item of adults and nestlings.
voice and calls. Very silent. A short throaty croak sometimes heard
when one bird is supplanting a rival.
breeding. Colonial, usually in segregated heronries of own species,
but also mixed with other egrets and pond and night herons. Season, between
76
CICONIIFORMES
April and August in Sind (Karachi city and harbour) and Kutch (Gul
of Kutch); end of May in Ceylon (Ghilaw; rare). No record elsewhere in
between, therefore possibly migrates locally to special areas. Nest , the usual
untidy structure of twigs, occasionally plucked green and with leaves still
attached. In large trees such as peepul ( Ficus religiosa ), jamun {Eugenia
jambolana ), Rain Tree ( Pithecelobium dulce) and others standing on dry
ground, with the colony overflowing on to adjacent trees. But the normal
site is coastal mangrove swamps subject to inundation at high tide, the
nests being placed in trees and bushes of Rhizophora> Avicennia , and Sonneratia f
etc. Both the dark and pale phases breed together in the same colony, but
white mated to white and slaty to slaty only ; no evidence here of slaty and
white birds paired together as in Africa. Eggs , 3 or 4, exactly like those of the
Litde Egret in colour, shape, and texture of shell. Average size of 50 eggs
44*9 X 34*3 mm. (Baker). Both sexes share all the domestic chores. As in
most herons the male collects the twigs and fetches them to the nest where
the female puts them together. Incubation commences with the first egg,
accounting for marked disparity in growth of young in the same brood.
Nest-feeding done by regurgitation as described. Period of incubation
undetermined. The nests contain either all white or all grey chicks each.
Only a single case observed of 2 white, 1 grey (one of the parents was white,
the other not seen). None of the white chicks are snow-white, all being more
or less dappled with grey, thus different from Little Egrets’. No adult white
bird retains the grey dappling, but adult slaty birds frequently show small
asymmetrical white patches on the wings.
Museum Diagnosis. In skins extremely difficult to distinguish E. garzetta garzetla
from white phase of E. gularis schistacea. Proportions and colours of legs and toes
(particoloured) the same in both. Plumages both breeding and non-breeding also
identical, including the ornamental plumes. The only constant difference is: bill
black in the always white E. garzetta. garzetta against horny brown or even yellowish
in E. gularis schistacea , whether in the dark or the white phase. It has been suggested
that the dimorphic E. g. schistacea may only be ecological populations of is. g. garzetta
adapted to a marine habitat. Contrary to experience in India, dark and white
birds often found paired together in the same colonies in Africa, and dark and white
chicks in the same nest. Furthermore, in East Africa E. g . garzetta has several colour
phases — pale lavender grey, sooty grey, dark sooty grey, and blackish slate, with
intermediates, 'flic problem of these colour phases is not properly understood. The
different coloration docs not depend on age or sex.
MEASUREMENTS
Wing Bill Tarsus Tail
(from feathers)
267 301 94-101 97-102 102-112 mm.
(Baker)
colours of bare parts. Variable. Adult: Iris yellow. Bill horny brown above,
yellowish at base and on lower mandible; or largely bright yellow (in slaty phase).
Legs and feet particoloured as in E. garzetta: tarsus greenish black; toes yellowish
brown (dark phase), largely yellow or greenish yellow (white phase).
In small nestlings, naked skin between feather buds, and aptcria, yellowish grey-
green. Legs and feet yellowish green and brown.
Iris greenish grey in very young; lighter grey (almost whitish) in older nestlings.
77
HERONS, EGRETS
51. Eastern Reef Heron. Egretta sacra (Gmelin)
Ardea sacra Gmelin, 1789, Syst. Nat. 1(2); 640 (Tahiti)
Baker, FBI No. 2227, Vol. 6: 351
local names. Unrecorded.
size. Length c. 58 cm. (23 in.).
field characters. Slightly smaller than the last, otherwise of same
general effect and maritime habitat.
Adult. Also dimorphic like No. 50: (1) pure white, (2) dark slaty
grey or slaty black, with a white streak down middle of chin and throat.
In breeding plumage both phases distinguishable from E . g. sckistacca by a
bushy nuchal crest, contra crest of two lanceolated plumes in the latter.
Feathers of lower foreneck long, lanceolate, overhanging breast. Long
lanceolate plumes on back (scapulars and interscapulars) reaching to middle
of tail, ending in paler slaty grey than rest of plumage. Sexes alike.
Sub-adult. Pied or mottled, in intermediate colour stages.
status, distribution and habitat. Resident in the Andaman and
Nicobar islands. Affects rocky portions of the coasts.
ExtralimitaL From the eastern coasts of the Bay of Bengal eastward —
Burma, Malaysia, to the coasts of southern China Sea, S. Korea, S. Japan,
Philippines, Sunda Islands, Moluccas, Celebes, New Guinea, South Pacific
islands, N. Australia, New Zealand.
general habits. Very similar to the last. Solitary. Keeps to the rocky
sea coast and squclchy tidal mud exposed at low water, or sits hunched
up on a partially submerged rock or mangrove tree waiting for the ebb.
food. Fish, especially the mudskipper (Periophthalmus) , crabs, and
occasionally insects, such as grasshoppers, obtained on bare ground above
tide level.
voice. An occasional 4 grunted croak or ork when feeding, presumably
to signalize the acquisition of an unduly tasty morsel \ Also a longer
harsher, arrk when alarmed (Gibson-Hill). Normally silent.
breeding. Colonial. Season, May to July and up to September. Nest,
the usual rough untidy stick platform. Placed on rocks in hollows and
crevices, in stunted Ficus trees, low thorny bushes up to a metre from the
ground, or more commonly among mangrove trees in creeks, sometimes
just above high-water mark (B. B. Osmaston). Eggs, 3 or 4, pale sea
green, typical of the herons. Average size of 50 eggs 44*8 x 33*3 mm.
(Baker),
Museum Diagnosis. For details of plumages, and a very full discussion of the
colour phases etc., see A. O* Hume 1874, Stray Feathers, 2: 304-9.
MEASUREMENTS
Wing Bill Tarsus Tail
(from feathers)
250-293 70-86 72-77 93-98 nun.
(Baker)
colours or bare PARTS. Variable. Iris yellow. Bill horny brown above, yellowish
at base and on lower mandible; often yellow all over in white birds. Legs varying
from pale yellowish green (in white birds) to deep dull greenish or nearly black
(in dark individuals).
76
CICONIIFORMES
April and August in Sind (Karachi city and harbour) and Kutch (Gul
of Kutch); end of May in Ceylon (Chilaw; rare). No record elsewhere in
between, therefore possibly migrates locally to special areas. Nest, the usual
untidy structure of twigs, occasionally plucked green and with leaves still
attached. In large trees such as peepul {Ficus religiose), jamun {Eugenia
jambolana ), Rain Tree {Pithecelobium dulce) and others standing on dry
ground, with the colony overflowing on to adjacent trees. But the normal
site is coastal mangrove swamps subject to inundation at high tide, the
nests being placed in trees and bushes of Rhizophora , Avicennia , and Someratia,
etc. Both the dark and pale phases breed together in the same colony, but
white mated to white and slaty to slaty only; no evidence here of slaty and
white birds paired together as in Africa. Eggs % 3 or 4, exactly like those of the
Little Egret in colour, shape, and texture of shell. Average size of 50 eggs
44-9 X 34*3 mm. (Baker). Both sexes share all the domestic chores. As in
most herons the male collects the twigs and fetches them to the nest where
the female puts them together. Incubation commences with the first egg,
accounting for marked disparity in growth of young in the same brood.
Nest-feeding done by regurgitation as described. Period of incubation
undetermined. The nests contain either all white or all grey chicks each.
Only a single case observed of 2 white, 1 grey (one of the parents was white,
the other not seen). None of the white chicks arc snow-white, all being more
or less dappled with grey, thus different from Little Egrets’. No adult white
bird retains the grey dappling, but adult slaty birds frequently show small
asymmetrical white patches on the wings.
Museum Diagnosis. In skins extremely difficult to distinguish E. garzetta garzetta
from white phase of E. gularis schistacea . Proportions and colours of legs and toes
(particoloured) the same in both. Plumages both breeding and non-breeding also
identical, including the ornamental plumes. The only constant difference is: bill
black in the always white E. garzetta garzetta against horny brown or even yellowish
in E. gularis schistacea , whether in the dark or the white phase. It has been suggested
that the dimorphic E. g. schistacea may only be ecological populations of E. g. garzetta
adapted to a marine habitat. Contrary to experience in India, dark and white
birds often found paired together in the same colonies in Africa, and dark and white
chicks in the same nest. Furthermore, in East Africa E. g. garzetta has several colour
phases — pale lavender grey, sooty grey, dark sooty grey, and blackish slate, with
intermediates. The problem of these colour phases is not properly understood. The
different coloration does not depend on age or sex.
MEASUREMENTS
Wing Bill Tarsus Tail
(from feathers)
c?»9 267-301 94-101 97-102 102-112 mm.
(Baker)
colours of bare parts. Variable, Adult: Iris yellow. Bill homy brown above,
yellowish at base and on lower mandible; or largely bright yellow (in slaty phase).
Legs and feet particoloured as in E. garzetta: tarsus greenish black; toes yellowish
brown (dark phase), largely yellow or greenish yellow (white phase).
In small nestlings, naked skin between feather buds, and apteria, yellowish grey-
green. Legs and feet yellowish green and brown.
Iris greenish grey in very young; lighter grey (almost whitish) in older nestlings*
77
HERONS, EGRETS
51. Eastern Reef Heron* Egretta sacra (Gmelin)
Ardea sacra Gmelin, 1789, Syst. Nat. 1(2): 640 (Tahiti)
Baker, FBI No. 2227, VoL 6; 351
LOCAL names. Unrecorded.
size* Length c . 58 cm. (23 in.).
field characters* Slightly smaller than the last, otherwise of same
general effect and maritime habitat.
Adult. Also dimorphic like No. 50: (1) pure white, (2) dark slaty
grey or slaty black, with a white streak down middle of chin and throat.
In breeding plumage both phases distinguishable from E. g. schistacea by a
bushy nuchal crest, contra crest of two lanceolated plumes in the latter.
Feathers of lower foreneck long, lanceolate, overhanging breast, Long
lanceolate plumes on back (scapulars and interscapulars) reaching to middle
of tail, ending in paler slaty grey than rest of plumage. Sexes alike.
Sub-adult. Pied or mottled, in intermediate colour stages.
status, distribution and habitat. Resident in the Andaman and
Nicobar islands. Affects rocky portions of the coasts.
ExtralimitaL From the eastern coasts of the Bay of Bengal eastward —
Burma, Malaysia, to the coasts of southern China Sea, S. Korea, S. Japan,
Philippines, Sunda Islands, Moluccas, Celebes, New Guinea, South Pacific
islands, N. Australia, New Zealand.
general habits. Very similar to the last. Solitary. Keeps to the rocky
sea coast and squelchy tidal mud exposed at low water, or sits hunched
up on a partially submerged rock or mangrove tree waiting for the ebb.
food. Fish, especially the mudskipper (Periophthalmus) , crabs, and
occasionally insects, such as grasshoppers, obtained on bare ground above
tide level.
voice. An occasional ‘ grunted croak or ork when feeding, presumably
to signalize the acquisition of an unduly tasty morsel \ Also a longer
harsher, arrk when alarmed (Gibson-Hill). Normally silent.
breeding. Colonial. Season , May to July and up to September. Nest>
the usual rough untidy stick platform. Placed on rocks in hollows and
crevices, in stunted Ficus trees, low thorny bushes up to a metre from the
ground, or more commonly among mangrove trees in creeks, sometimes
just above high-water mark (B. B. Osmaston). Eggs 9 3 or 4, pale sea
green, typical of the herons. Average size of 50 eggs 44*8 X 33*3 mm.
(Baker).
Museum Diagnosis. For details of plumages, and a very full discussion of the
colour phases etc., see A. O. Hume 1874, Stray Feathers , 2: 304-9.
MEASUREMENTS
Wing Bill Tarsus Tail
(from feathers)
250-293 70-86 72-77 93-98 mm.
(Baker)
colours of Bare parts. Variable. Iris yellow. Bill horny brown above, yellowish
at base and on lower mandible; often yellow all over in white birds. Legs varying
from pale yellowish green (in white birds) to deep dull greenish or nearly black
(in dark individuals).
78
Cl CON 1 1 FORMES
Genus Nyctioorax T. Forster
Nycticorax T. Forster, 1817, Syn. Cat. Brit. Bds.: 59. Type, by tautonymy and
monotypy, Nycticorax infaustus Forster « Ardea nycticorax Linnaeus
Bill very stout and deep, much compressed, with culmen distinctly curved;
upper mandible notched close to tip. Head short and comparatively thick with
nuchal crest of a few narrow feathers. Wings rounded: 3rd primary (as.) longest.
Tail short, of 12 feathers. Only upper part of tibia feathered. Tarsus long and stout,
about equal to culmen in length, scutellated in front, reticulated behind.
Genus practically cosmopolitan.
52. Night Heron. Nycticorax nycticorax nycticorax (Linnaeus)
Ardea Nycticorax Linnaeus, 1758, Syst. Nat., ed. 10, 1: 142 (Southern Europe)
Baker, FBI No. 2233, Vol. 6: 359
Plate 3, fig. 10, facing p. 48
local names. Waak, Kwaak,-Tar bagla, Kokrai (Hindi); Bor (Kashmir) ; Bachka
(Bengal) ; Chongkhu (Manipur) ; Raat baggdl , Raat kokku (Marathi) ; Awaak, Waak
(Gujarat); Gadri (Sind); C hint a wdkha (Tclugu); Vdkka (Tamil); Toppi kokku
(Malayalam); Re kdna kokkd (Sinhala).
size. Pond Heron; length c. 58 cm. (23 in.).
field characters. A stocky grey, white and black marsh bird of the
same general effect as the Pond Heron, with a markedly stouter bill.
Adult. Above, ashy grey with metallic greenish black back and scapu-
lars. Forehead and a streak over eye white; crown, nape, and drooping
occipital crest black, the last with a few long narrow white plumes. Below ,
while; sides of body ashy grey. Sexes alike.
x ft*
Young (immature). Brown, streaked and speckled with rufous, buff,
and dark brown — rather similar looking, when at rest, to Pond Heron in
non-breeding plumage.
status, distribution and habitat. Resident. Patchily distributed,
and shifting locally with water conditions. Throughout the subcontinent,
up to c. 1900 m. in the Kashmir and Nepal valleys in spring and summer;
most moving southward in winter. Ceylon, Andaman and Nicobar islands.
HERONS, EGRETS 79
Nat recorded from the Laccadives or Maldives* Affects jhcels, tanks, streams,
and ponds, as well as estuaries, tidal creeks, coastal lagoons and backwaters.
Extralimital. Central and southern Europe, south to Africa. Middle
East, Burma, Thailand, Malaysia, the Indochinese countries to China and
Japan.
general habits. Gregarious, crepuscular and nocturnal except in
breeding season. Colonies from a dozen to several hundred birds spend
the daytime roosting in the seclusion of dense Pandanus> mangrove or other
bushes bordering or overhanging water, or covering a little islet in a river.
A grove oflarge leafy trees or a bamboo copse on dry ground, maybe in the
vicinity of a village — lofty chenars in Kashmir — do equally well. Here the
birds sit sluggishly in their characteristic hunched posture, neck drawn into
the body, shoulders and back rounded, and blood-red eye staring unblink-
ingly. Owing to their silent and secretive habits such daytime roosts, even
large and populous ones, arc liable to be overlooked unless some disturbance
causes the birds to fly out, when they will mill around like a rabble of flying
foxes before resettling. At dusk they bestir themselves, flying out singly
or in small parties in different directions to their accustomed feeding
grounds by some jheel or creek. Except when foraging for nest-young,
feeding is chiefly done in the morning and evening twilight, and during the
night. The birds are active in the quest for food and seldom still-hunt in the
manner of true herons. The flight is strong and direct, with quick flaps
of the rounded wings — reminiscent in the distance, and in silhouette, of a
flying fox. The thick-set neck is pulled in and shortened, but not folded
in an S as in the Grey Heron. At the communal roosts and heronries emotion
of any kind between individual birds is expressed by a momentary raising
of the crest and fluffing out of feathers of the neck, breast and back, followed
occasionally by a jab of the bill at a neighbour.
voice and calls. A single unmistakable raucous wock or kwaark is
uttered from time to time while flighting to and from the feeding grounds.
Partially fledged chicks in the nest or when out clambering among the
adjacent branches keep up an incessant clamour, click , click, click , etc. for
being fed.
food. Fish, frogs, aquatic insects, dragonfly larvae, etc.
breeding. Colonial. Often in pure colonies of its own, or in segregated
mohallas in mixed heronries, or even individually in uneasy proximity of
nests of cormorants, egrets, and pond herons. Season , April-May in the Vale
of Kashmir; June-July to September in N. India generally; December to
February in S. India; December to September in Ceylon. Nest, a rough
untidy platform of twigs, sometimes flimsy enough for the eggs to be seen
from below. Placed in the same sort of sites as used for daytime roosts — trees,
Pandanus or tamarisk bushes standing in or near water, or groves of trees
(often lofty, as chenars in Kashmir) on dry land. Eggs, 3 or 4, rarely 5,
typical of the family, pale blue green, longish ovals. Average size of 50 eggs
49*0 X 35* 1 mm. (Baker). Both sexes take part in all the domestic chores.
The nest material is evidently collected chiefly by the male. Incubation
period not ascertained; given as 21 days for European birds. Great dis-
parity in chicks of same brood owing to the eggs being laid at about 4^-hour
intervals and incubation commencing with the first egg. Ghicks fed by
80
Cl CON 1 1 FORMES
regurgitation, as in the family, the parents bill being seized and violently
pulled down into the nest to induce disgorgement* Courtship display
described in Witherby 1939, 3: 148-9.
Museum Diagnosis. For details of plumages etc. see Witherby 1939, 3: 150-2.
MEASUREMENTS
Wing
Bill
(from feathers)
Tarsus
Tail
265-300
65-80
65-75
95-110 mm.
270-285
66-75
—
(Witherby)
colours or bare pARrs. Iris blood -rod. Bill black, greenish yellow at base and
on most of lower mandible. Naked lores and orbital skin yellowish green. Legs
and feet dull green. In breeding season bill blacker; legs and feet lemon-yellow,
orange-red, or pinkish red.
miscellaneous. Longevity (in captivity) : 18+ years (PZS, 125: 535).
Genus Gorsachius Bonaparte
Gorsachius Bonaparte, 1855, Consp. Av., 2: 138. Type, by monotypy, Nycticorax goisagi
Temminck
Plumage variable. Bill as stout as in Nycticorax but much shorter. Culmcn shorter
than tarsus. Nostrils large, linear, open. Tarsus short, stout, reticulated throughout.
Feet small, the toes bordered by a narrow membrane. Tail short, of twelve feathers.
Head crested; neck short and thick. Wing rounded: 2nd, 3rd and 4th primaries
(as.) subequal, the 3rd usually slightly the longest.
53. Malay or Tiger Bittern. Gorsachius rnelanolophus melanolopkus (Raffles)
Ardea melanolopha Raffles, 1822, Trans. Linn. Soc. London, 13(2): 326
(Western Sumatra)
Baker, FBI No. 2234, Vol. 6:361
Plate 7, fig. 1, facing p. 144
local names. Raj bog (Assam): TMvittu kokku (Maiayalam); Re kokka (Sinhala).
size. Pond Heron +; length c . 51 cm. (20 in.).
field characters. An unmistakable relation of the Pond and Night
Herons. Reminiscent also of a large Chestnut Bittern (q.v.).
Adult. Above , crown and long bushy nuchal crest ashy black. Back
and rest of upperparts largely chestnut-cinnamon, closely and finely barred
with black (hence sometimes called Tiger Bittern). Primaries and secondaries
greyish black with chestnut and white tips. Tail black, rufescent at tip.
Below, chin and throat white; foreneck and upper breast sandy-rufous
streaked with black. Rest of underparts white, blotched and spotted with
black and rufous on lower breast and abdomen. Sexes alike.
Young (immature). Above, head almost black; nape and long crest
feathers streaked with white. Rest of upper plumage dark brown spotted
with white, the wings and scapulars with wavy buff barring. Below, chin and
throat white with a central dark brown streak. Rest of underparts white to
buff, spotted and barred with dark brown, densely on breast lightly on
abdomen and flanks.
BITTERNS SI
status, distribution and habitat- One of the peculiar discon tinuously
distributed Indo-Malayan species of evergreen biotope- Resident in the
heavy rainfall areas of the southern Western Ghats - — Kerala, W. Mysore
(including Nilgiris) north to about Belgaum (c. 15° 50' N. X 74° 31' E.);
Assam, Manipur, Winter visitor to Ceylon. Foothills and up to at least
800 m. altitude in SW. India; up to c. 1800 m. in Ceylon. Frequents streams
and marshy patches in thick forest.
x c. i
Extralimital. Burma, Thailand, Malaysia, Indochina, S. China, Formosa,
Borneo, Sumatra, Java.
migration. Very little known. Regular winter visitor to Ceylon arriving
on the west coast in October and November. At Jatinga in the Haflong
district (r. 25° N. X 93° E.) and in certain other valleys of Assam, birds of
this species, along with several others usually considered non-migratory,
are regularly attracted in large numbers to lights displayed by the villagers.
Jatinga lies on a spur flanking the valley at an altitude of about 600 m.,
and the appearance of the birds on dark cloudy overcast monsoon nights
between August and October, flying in a north-south direction, is clearly
suggestive of some sort of migratory passage. Further investigation is desir-
able. (For a fuller account see Silim AJi, 1962, JBNHS 59 (1) : 128-30.)
general habits. In many respects similar to those of the Night Heron;
largely nocturnal. Excessively shy and difficult to approach or observe, but
perhaps less rare than generally believed. When disturbed feeding at a
water-hole in dense forest, it flies off noiselessly with a rapid flapping of
wings, alighting a short distance away in a thick tree, whence it moves on
again before it can be approached.
voice and calls. On the whole very silent. Besides a short croak and
hisses uttered by an incubating bird when closely approached, nothing
recorded- When hungry, captive birds uttered ‘ a rasping arh arh arh (a as in
“hat”)’ — G. M. Henry.
food. Fish, frogs, lizards, molluscs, insects, etc.
breeding. Season , in Assam chiefly May and J une ; in S W. India end May
to August, during the heaviest rains. Nest , a flimsy structure of twigs like the
Pond Heron’s, sometimes with a lining of reeds etc. Usually placed between
5 and 8 m. up in a small tree overhanging a stream in thick forest. Not
concealed, but easily overlooked. Rarely in reed beds. Eggs, 3 to 5, white
82
CICONIIFORMES
with a bluish tinge; broad ovals occasionally slightly pointed at the small
end. Average of 40 eggs 46*2 X 37*2 mm. (Baker). Though ordinarily
so shy, the bird is a close sitter, hissing and croaking at the intruder and
refusing to leave its nest till almost touched. Share of the sexes in nest
building, incubation and feeding the young unrecorded. Period of incu-
bation unknown.
Museum Diagnosis
MEASUREMENTS
Wing
Bill
(from feathers)
Tarsus
Tail
c?»9 255-281
43-49
r. 67-79
96-112 mm.
(Baker)
colours of bars parts. Iris golden yellow. Bill fleshy yellow, the culmen and
tip homy brown. Orbital skin greenish slate, suffused with red in the breeding
season. Legs and feet dull green, brownish in front.
54. Nicobar Tiger Bittern. Gorsachius melanolophus minor Hachisuka
Gorsachius melanolophus minor Hachisuka, 1926, Ibis: 592
(Katchel Island, Nicobar Is.)
Baker, FBI No. 2235, Vol. 6: 363
local names. Unrecorded.
size. Slightly smaller than the foregoing,
FIELD CHARACTERS. As in No. 53.
status, distribution and habitat. Apparently resident, but rare.
Nicobar Islands (obtained at Katchel, Tiilangchong, False Harbour, etc.).
Frequents streams and swampy patches in thick forest.
general habits. A s described under No. 53.
breeding. Not recorded.
Museum Diagnosis. As No. 53, but smaller. Plumage very variable.
MEASUREMENTS
Wing Bill Tarsus Tail
(from feathers)
224-234 46-42 c. 61-67 80-88 mm.
(once 44) (Baker)
colours of bare parts. A s in the nominate race (No. 53).
Genus Ixobrychus Billberg
Ixobrychus Billberg, 1828, Syn. Faun, Scand., 1(2): 166, Type, by subsequent designa-
tion, Ardea minuta Linnaeus. (Stone, 1907, Auk, 24: 192.)
Bill straight and slender; culmen flat at base with a broad shallow groove on each
side of upper mandible. Tarsus rather short, equal to about two-thirds of the culmen.
Back of neck almost denuded of feathers, though this concealed by feathers of side
of neck. Head crested. Feathers of upper breast very soft and lax; no dorsal or
scapulary plumes. Tail short, often of ten feathers only.
Genus almost cosmopolitan except in the northern Holarctic Region.
BITTERNS 83
55. Little Bittern* Ixobrychus minutus minutus (Linnaeus)
Ardea minuta Linnaeus, 1766, Syst. Nat., ed. 12, 1:240 (Switzerland)
Baker, FBI No. 2236, Vol. 6:364
Plate 5, fig. 10, facing p. 96
local name. Goi (Kashmir).
size. Pond Heron—; length c. 36 cm. (14 in.).
field characters. A * hunchbacked * waterside bird, similar in general
effect to the Pond Heron. In flight whitish shoulder patch contrasting with
blackish wings, suggestive of identity.
Male (adult). Above, black, including crown, nape, crest, back, scapulars,
rump, tail, and innermost secondaries. A large lavender-grey to whitish patch
on closed wing (coverts) almost masking the blackish brown flight feathers
while bird at rest. Sides of head and neck greyish pink or vinous. Below ,
throat and neck white to buff. Upper breast ochre, of lanceolate feathers;
lower breast blackish maroon. Rest of underparts white, the flanks ochre
with faint dark shaft-lines.
Female. Above , chestnut-brown largely replacing black. A chestnut-
brown shoulder patch. Below , chiefly chestnut and rufous, streaked with
rufous-buff.
Young (immature). Above, dark brown with rufous scalloping or
streaking. Below, chiefly white and buff, steaked with chestnut and buff.
status, distribution and habitat. Resident: local, and apparently also
locally migratory. West Pakistan (Sind), and northern India (Nepal,
Uttar Pradesh), east to Assam (Gachar — Baker). Normally in the lowlands;
in the vale of Kashmir up to c. 1500 to 1800 m. altitude. Frequents jheels
and marshes with thick reed-beds and other cover.
Extralimital . Central and southern Europe to W. Siberia and Trans-
caspia. Asia Minor, Israel, Iran, Turkestan, Afghanistan. N. Africa,
wintering south to Cape Colony. Other races in tropical Africa, Australia,
New Zealand.
general habits. Non-gregarious ; usually keeping singly, rarely two
or three together. Largely crepuscular. Skulks in thick reed-beds during
daytime, clambering amongst the stems, and seldom shows itself except when
flushed from its retreat. Flies with fairly rapid flaps of the rounded wings,
head characteristically drawn into the shoulders, close above the water or
reed tops to pitch into the growth again a short distance away preceded by
a short glide. Sometimes seen standing hunchbacked at the edge of a reed-
bed, lunging out with its bill now and again at some insect or other morsel.
When suddenly come upon, especially when on nest, the bird * freezes
stretching the flexible neck to its full length upwards, bill thrust stiffly into
the sky. In this attitude the long slender neck blends so perfectly with the
surrounding reeds, particularly in the case of the streaked female, that the
bird becomes astonishingly invisible even at close range as long as it remains
sdll.
voice and calls. An occasional frog-like wuk is recorded in Kashmir.
In Europe the male has been described as uttering c a rather low croaking
Mgh repeated often for long stretches with remarkable regularity at rate
of approximately 25 to a minute * (A. Voigt in Witherby 1939).
84
CICON II FORMES
food. Fish, frogs, molluscs, crustaceans, and largely insects*
breeding. Has been recorded in the Eastern Nara district of Sind (Doig
and Butler) in May; in Kohat (Whitehead) in July; in Cachar (Baker —
once) month not stated. Breeds commonly and abundantly in the Kashmir
Valley from May to July; singly, notin colonies. Nest, a pad of rushes built
partly by bending down a number of reeds and then adding other pieces of
reed flags to form a shallow platform; from a few centimetres to a metre
or so above the water. Normally in dense reed-beds and liable to be swamped
by rise of water level in a flood. Sometimes the nests are made of fine twigs
and provided with a depression for the eggs. Eggs, 4 to 6 or 7, white, often
with a pale bluish tinge; regular ovals about equal at both ends, smooth
but glossless. Average size of 80 eggs 34*1 X 26*0 mm. (Baker). Both sexes
share in building the nest, incubation, and feeding the young. The eggs are
laid at two-day intervals. Incubation period 16-17 days. Incubation com-
mences with the first egg, resulting in marked disparity in the development
of chicks of the same brood. The nestling is clothed in loose cinnamon-
coloured down with longer bottlebrush-like bristles sticking out from its
crown. The older chicks clamber about among the surrounding reeds till
a parent returns with food, whereupon they scramble back to the nest where
the characteristic tussle ensues to induce it to regurgitate.
Museum Diagnosis. For details of plumages etc. see Witherby 1939, 3: 154-5.
MEASUREMENTS
Wing Bill Tarsus
(from feathers)
<J» 142-155 45-52
$ 2 137-150 45-52 S- 42-47
(once 157) J
Tail
45-52 mm.
(Witherby)
colours of bare parts. Iris pale yellow to orange-yellow. Bill yellow, creamy
yellow or purplish yellow, the culmen darker and browner. Orbital skin pale livid
green. Legs and feet greenish yellow, dull greenish plumbeous or greenish homy
(Baker).
56. Chestnut Bittern. Ixobrychus cinnamomeus (GmcUn)
Ardea cinnamomca Gmelin, 1789, Syst. Nat., 1(2): 643 (China)
Baker, FBI No. 2238, Vol. 6: 367
Plate 3, fig. 9, facing p. 48
local names, Ldl b&gld (Hindi) ; Khyn bdk or Ldl bdk (Bengal); Meti kokka
(Sinhala); Kuruttu kokku (Tamil); Sandhya kokku (Malayalam).
size. Pond Heron — ; length c. 38 cm. (15 in.).
field characters. Smaller and lankier than Pond Heron, but an un-
mistakable cousin.
Male (adult). Above , including crown and bushy crest, chestnut-
cinnamon. Wing quills chestnut. Below , chin and throat whitish with a
dark median stripe down foreneck. A patch of black and chestnut buff-edged
feathers on each side of upper breast largely concealed by the elongated
BITTERNS 85
breast feathers; rest of underparts pale chestnut Underside of wings (in
flight} still paler chestnut with a pinkish tinge.
Female (adult). Above , chestnut-brown. Crown blackish. Scapulars
and wing-coverts with black-bordered buff spots. Below, buffy rufous with
a heavy brown streak down middle of foreneck and breast, flanked by parallel
broken lines on either side, like ‘ coarse stitching with brown thread \ Rest
of underparts streaked with dark brown. Underwing rufous-buff.
x e. i
Young (immature). Like female but less chestnut more brown above,
and more distinctly barred and spotted. Below , more heavily streaked with
dark brown.
status, distribution and habitat. Resident — subject to local move-
ments dependent on water conditions; possibly also migratory to some
extent. Throughout the subcontinent, Ceylon, Andaman, Nicobar and
Maidive islands. The Indus Valley is approximately the western limit of
distribution of both this and Yellow Bittern ; eastward to Assam and beyond.
Lowlands from the Nepal duns and Himalayan terai southward in the
Peninsula and Ceylon. Up to at least 900 m. elevation in the peninsular
hills; to over 1800 m. in Ceylon. Affects reed-beds in inland jheels and
swamps, inundated standing paddyfields, etc. Rarely also coastal back-
waters and tidal mangroves, e.g. in Kerala; frequently side by side with the
Yellow Bittern.
ExtralimitaL Burma, Thailand, Malaysia, Philippines, Sunda Islands,
Celebes (Sulawesi). China from Manchuria to Hainan; Ryukyii Islands.
general habits. Non-grcgarious and largely crepuscular. Normally
seen during daytime only when flushed out of long grass, as when snipe-
shooting, but commonly flying about from one reed patch to another
during the breeding season and in overcast rainy weather. Flight (rather
quick flaps of the rounded wings with neck drawn in) and other habits and
behaviour very like Pond Heron and Yellow Bittern.
food. Fish, frogs, molluscs, insects, etc. in astonishing quantity. One
bird had swallowed a fish 12-70 cm. long, c, 5 cm. in circumference, with a
skull c . 2 cm. across, 1 eel r. 13 cm. long, and 2 of c. 9 cm. each (Butler —
Andamans).
voice and calls. Normally silent. Very noisy in spring, constantly
uttering a loud kok-kok (La Touche). In courtship * the male flew slowly
before the female with slow, stiff wing beats, calling ek-ek-ek, then perched
at the top of a low tree and sang gQok-gQok-gook-gook~gook-gook-gook-gook with
each of the first five notes louder than the one before it, and the last three
pitched three or four tones lower * (H. G. Deignan). J. K. Stanford also
describes this display in identical terms, minus the accompanying calls, and
86 Cl CON II FORMES
says it reminded him of the nuptial flight of a longeared owl or a greenfinch
{fide Sroythies).
breeding. Season, between June and September, commencing as soon
as the monsoon rains have well set in; most general in July-August. Nest,
a small pad of leaves, bits of reed stem, etc. built on bent-down matted
reeds, or in a cane brake in a swamp, a metre or so above the water or mud.
Eggs* 4 or 5, sometimes 6, white with occasionally a bluish tint; short to
long ovals, generally almost cylindrical. Average size of 50 eggs 36-5 X 26 * 4
mm. (Baker). Both sexes take part in building the nest, incubation, and feed-
ing the young, which is done by regurgitation, as described under No. 36.
Period of incubation undetermined.
Museum Diagnosis. Tibia naked for c. 10 mm. above tibio- tarsal joint; otherwise
as for the genus (cf. 7. minutus).
MEASUREMENTS
Wing Bill
Tarsus
Tail
(from feathers)
d* 2 138-149 43-51
45-50
41-45 mm.
(once 156)
(Baker)
Recent specimens from Nepal measure:
Wing
Bill
(from posterior edge of
nostril)
Tail
3<? cf
151, 152, 154
45, 46, 47
44, 46, 48 mm.
1$
145
45
45 mm.
(Biswas)
colours of bare parts. Iris yellow, orange, or pinky red. Bill greenish yellow
or light orange-yellow, the culmen blackish, and base of the mandibles rosy red.
Naked orbital and loral skin deep rosy red or reddish purple in male; yellowish in
female. Legs and feet yellowish green; soles paler, more yellow.
57. Yellow Bittern, lxobrychus sinensis (Gmelin)
Ardea Sinensis Gmelin, 1789, Syst. Nat. 1(2): 642 (China)
Baker, FBI No. 2237, Vol. 6: 365
Plate 5, fig. 9, facing p, 96
local names. Jun bdgld (Hindi) ; Kat bdk (Bengal) ; Mcti kokka (Sinhala) ; Mdndl
ndrdi (Tamil); Manja kokku (Malayalam).
size. Same as Chestnut Bittern; length c . 38 cm. (15 in,).
field characters. Like the Chestnut Bittern, small and lanky, and an
unmistakable cousin of the Pond Heron; predominantly yellow, brown,
rufous, and chestnut. In flight yellowish fawn body contrasting with black
wings suggestive of identity.
Male (adult). Above , crown and bushy crest black; sides of head vinous-
pink. Back chiefly light brown or yellowish brown. Rump dark ashy; tail
slaty black. Wing quills blackish. Below, chin, throat, and fdrencck pale
yellowish; upper breast blackish with buff streaks; rest of underparts pale
yellowish buff.
BITTERNS 07
Female. More or less similar except for a buff mesial line down the
throat and foreneck, sometimes obsolescent.
Young (immature). Above , rufous-brown with broad buff fringes to the
feathers (scalloping). Below, more heavily streaked; buff mesial line down
centre of foreneck more pronounced.
status, distribution and habitat. Resident, moving locally with
water conditions; possibly also migratory to some extent. Throughout
the subcontinent from the Indus Valley eastward to Assam and beyond,
and from Nepal (duns) southward to Kerala. Also Ceylon, Andamans, and
Nicobars. Lowlands, and up to r. 900 m. in the peninsular hills; tor. 1200 m.
elevation in Ceylon. Affects reed-beds, and scrubby growth in inland swamps
as well as coastal mangroves and backwaters, and inundated standing paddy
crops, etc., frequently side by side with Chestnut Bittern.
ExtralimitaL Burma, Thailand, Malaya east to China and Japan, south
to New Guinea and the Caroline Is. The numerous subspecies described
are ill defined and their validity, according to Hartert (1910-22, 2:
1260) and later authorities, is questionable.
general habits. Like the Little Bittern (q.v.) largely crepuscular and
nocturnal, but quite active in daytime in cloudy, overcast weather. When
come upon suddenly, especially on nest, it also assumes the characteristic
posture of the tribe aptly termed ‘ On Guard \ The slender neck is thrust
vertically upward, bill pointing to the sky, while the bird freezes, taking
full advantage of its streaked underside to become astonishingly inconspi-
cuous amongst the reedy surroundings. In other respects also very similar to
both the Little and the Chestnut Bitterns.
food. Fish, frogs, molluscs, insects, etc. One described sitting on its
heels catching flies 4 which it did with incredibly rapid lunges of its head
and bill without moving its body at all ’ (Vaughan & Jones — E. China),
voice and calls. Very silent. Kaka-kakak (Mayr — SW. Pacific).
breeding. Season, as in Chestnut Bittern, between June and September,
as soon as the monsoon has properly set in, filling the depressions and
swamps. Nest, and site, not different from the last — a pad of reed flags etc.
placed on bent-down reeds in a swamp, or in shrubbery on the edge of a
pond, from a few centimetres to a metre or so above the water or mud.
Eggs, 4 to 6, fine-textured but glossless, pale skim-milk blue or green-blue.
Inner membrane pale blue contra white or pale yellowish white in Ixobrychus
minutus. Average size of 60 eggs 31-2 X 23*9 mm. (Baker). Both sexes take
part in all the domestic chores. The eggs are laid on consecutive days and
incubation begins from the first egg. Period of incubation undetermined.
Museum Diagnosis. For fuller description of plumage see Baker, loc. cit.
Tibia feathered down to the tibio-tarsal joint. Culmcn longer than mid-toe and
claw. Rest as for the genus.
measurements
Wing Bill Tarsus Tail
(from feathers)
^9 129-136 52- 57 44-51 41-47 mm,
(once 143) (once 49) (Baker)
colours of bare parts. Iris orange-yellow or bright golden yellow. Bill:
culmen horny brown, commissure and lower mandible pale yellowish flesh; mouth
88 Cl CON 1 1 FORMES
pink. Naked facial skin pale greenish yellow. Legs and feet yellow or greenish yellow;
claws horny brown.
Genus Dupe tor Heine & Reichcnow
Dupetor Heine and Reichcnow, 1890, Nomencl. Mus. Hein. : 308.
Type, by monotypy, Ardea Jfavicollis Latham
Differs from Ixobrychiis in having a longer bill, this exceeding the middle toe and
claw. Tarsus shorter than bill. Back of neck partially naked, less completely so than
in Ixobrvchus.
Genus confined to the Oriental and Australian regions.
58. Black Bittern. Dupetor fiavicollis flavicollis (Latham)
Ardea jlavicollis Latham, 1790, Index Om., 2: 701 (India)
Baker, FBI No. 2239, Vol. 6: 368
Plate 3, fig. 8, facing p. 48 and Plate 7, fig. 2, facing p. 144
local names. K&la bdgla (Hindi) ; Kalo bak (Bengal); Ay jan (Assam); Khaira
bog (Assam, Nowgong) ; Kalu kokka (Sinhala) ; Kdruppu narai (Tamil) ; Karutha kdkku
(Malayalam).
size. Pond Heron + ; length r. 58 cm. (23 in.).
field characters. General effect as of Pond Heron; largely black and
rufous-buff with a conspicuous buff-and-white cheek patch.
Male (adult). Above , crown, sides of head, and upperparts including
wings and tail, slaty grey to almost black. A band of bright ochre-yellow
on either side of neck. Below , chin and throat white with a rufous dotted
line down the middle. Forcneck mixed slaty black, chestnut, and buff.
Upper breast dark slate with buffy white margins to the feathers (scalloping).
Rest of underparts slaty grey to brownish black with a few white-edged
feathers on abdomen.
Female (adult). Above , more brown less slaty grey. Below , breast feathers
streaked with white and rufous markings. Abdomen lighter brown with more
white in centre.
Young (immature). Above , crown slaty black; rest of upper plumage
including wings, dark brown scalloped light rufous. Below> upper breast
brownish rufous, scalloped paler and with darker shaft-streaks.
status, distribution arid habitat. Resident, shifting locally with water
conditions. Thinly and patchily distributed throughout the better watered
parts of the subcontinent, from Sind in West Pakistan (E. Nara district)
and the Gangetic Plain including Bengal and East Pakistan, to Assam,
Manipur and beyond. Fairly common in the heavy rainfall zone of
south-west India (Mysore, Kerala), and Ceylon. Not recorded from
the Andaman and Nicobar islands. Affects reedy inland swamps and
overgrown seepage nullahs in jungle, mostly in the low country, but also
suitable marshes up to c. 1200 metres in the hills. Apparently not found in
tidal mangroves.
ExlralitnilaL Burma, Thailand, Malaysia, Indochina, central and southern
China, Greater Sunda Is., Celebes (Sulawesi). Other races extend the
species to Australia.
BITTERNS
general HABITS. Non -gregarious; largely crepuscular and nocturnal.
On the whole very similar to those of the genus Ixobryckus . Skulks in swampy
reed-beds and thickets once the sun is up, and only seen in daytime when
beaten out of its retreat; more active at dawn and dusk, and in overcast
rainy weather. Flight characteristic of the little herons as described. When
suddenly come upon, adults as well as flightless clanibering young assume
the 4 On Guard * posture and freeze, effectively camouflaging themselves
among the reed stems.
food. Fish, frogs, molluscs, insects, etc. (One fish c. 115 cm. taken from
stomach.)
voice and calls. Unrecorded, except for a loud booming in the breed-
ing season.
breeding. Season , mainly June to September during the SW. monsoon,
varying locally with incidence of rainfall and filling up of jheels and swamps.
Nest, a pad of twigs or matted water-weeds with a slight central depression.
Placed on bent-down reeds in a swamp, or in a cane brake or bamboo clump,
a metre or so above the surface. Eggs, normally 4, broad ovals more or less
equal at both ends, white with a faint tinge of bluish or sea green. Average
size of 40 eggs 41*6 X 31-4 mm. (Baker). Both sexes share all the domestic
chores. Incubation starts with the first egg. Incubatiqn period undetermined.
Chicks fed by regurgitation as characteristic of the family.
Museum Diagnosis
MEASUREMENTS
Wing
Bill
(from feathers)
Tarsus
Tail
99
197-215
196-204
j- 69-82
61-70
63-74 mm.
COLOURS OF BARE
PARTS.
Iris golden brown
to red. Bill reddish horny, paler
and yellowish at tip and terminal half of lower mandible; bare facial skin purple,
the eyelids bluer. Legs and feet dark brown (Baker).
Genus Botaurus Stephens
Boiaurus Stephens, 1819, in Shaw, Gen. Zool. 11(2): 592. Type, by subsequent
designation, Ardea stellaris Linnaeus
Plumage long and lax forming decorative plumes down foreneck and breast.
Bill, short, deep at base, much compressed. Gulmen shorter than tarsus. Nasal
groove broad and deep with the linear nostril near base. Tarsus stout and short,
shorter than middle toe and claw. Tibia pardy naked above joint. Tail of ten
feathers.
Genus confined to Oriental and Australian regions, one species being found in
India.
59. Bittern. Boiaurus stellaris stellaris (Linnaeus)
Ardea stellaris Linnaeus, 1758, Syst. Nat., ed. 10, 1: 144
(Europe, restricted to Sweden)
Baker, FBI No. 2240, VoL 6: 370
Plate 5, fig. 4, facing p. 96
LOCAL names. Nir goug, Biz (Hindi).
90
Cl CONI I FORMES
size. Pond Heron + ; length c . 71 cm. (28 in.).
field characters. Considerably larger than the Pond Heron, but of the
same general hunchbacked effect, with neck retracted, both at rest and in
flight. Overall tawny buff or straw colour, closely barred and mottled with
blackish. Short, stout, pointed bill, and large feet.
Adult. Above , crown, nape and upper back black; bushy drooping
crest partly tipped and edged with buff. Sides of head ochre, faintly stippled
with black. Lower back, rump, and tail yellowish buff, profusely barred
and mottled with black. Below , chin and throat white with a conspicuous
buff and black median line continued down elongated overhanging
yellowish buff breast plumes. Rest of underparts yellowish buff, streaked
with brown and buff. Sides of breast narrowly barred with brown and dark
buff. Sexes alike.
Xf.J
status, distribution and habitat. Winter visitor, found in small num-
bers from Sind in West Pakistan (common) across Rajasthan and the
Gangetic Plain to Assam, straggling south through Gujarat, Madhya
Pradesh, Orissa, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Madras and Mysore
(Nanjangud, 160 km. south of Bangalore, being the southernmost record
in India). Not recorded in Kerala or Ceylon. Affects dense reed-beds and
bulrushes in inland j heels and swamps.
ExtralimitaL Breeds in the temperate Palaearctic region throughout
Europe and Asia from Great Britain to Japan. A second breeding race in
South Africa.
migration. No precise information.
general habits. Similar to its smaller cousins described. Solitary,
secretive, crepuscular and nocturnal. Seldom seen in daytime except when
put up from partly submerged reed-beds, e.g. while snipe-shooting is in
progress. Flaps leisurely and noiselessly above the reeds on its broad rounded
wings and pitches into cover again a short distance away. When nesting,
has the characteristic habit of freezing on alarm, neck and bill stretched
vertically upward. In its winter quarters this ‘ On Guard * posture is only
seen when e.g. a wounded bird is trying to evade capture.
food. Fish, frogs, molluscs, insects, etc. Elsewhere small birds and
rodents also recorded.
voice and calls. Silent in winter. In breeding season the male utters
a deep, resonant, rather ventriloquial boom, commonly repeated 3 to 6 times
STORKS 91
or more. It is not particularly loud but of great carrying power and audible
over a mile away.
breeding. Not proven but may possibly breed in thick reed-beds in
Anchar Lake in the Kashmir Valley as asserted by local shikaris. According
to Bates & Lowther 1952 (p. 355) it may occasionally be heard booming
there in June, which is suggestive circumstantial evidence. Ntst and site
similar to those of the smaller bitterns. Eggs, 4 to 6, light olive-brown with
a few specks and spots of darker brown at the broad end. Average size of
80 eggs 52*5 x 38-3 (Baker).
Museum Diagnosis. For description of plumages etc. see Witherby 1939, 3: 159-
60.
MEASUREMENTS
Wing Bill Tarsus Tail
320-350 60-75 90-100 95-116 mm.
9 9 300-350 65-75 — —
(Witherby)
colours OF bare parts. Iris yellow. Bill greenish yellow, ridge of upper mandible
brown at base, black-brown at tip. Lores and round eyes green to ‘ livid blue \
Legs and feet pale green, yellowish at tarsal joint and back of tarsus; soles yellow
(Witherby).
miscellaneous. Longevity (from ringing data) 8+ years {Ring, 1962,
33: 148).
Family Ciconudae, Storks
Large, long-legged, diurnal birds chiefly terrestrial and marsh-haunting. Colour
pattern mainly white and black with a metallic sheen. Bill long, massive, pointed,
straight or nearly so, ungrooved. Wings long and broad. Tail short; under tail-
coverts lax and greatly developed in some species. Legs very long, the tibiae
partly naked. Toes of moderate length, webbed at base. Claws blunt, that of middle
toe not pectinated as in herons. No powder-down t shampoo * patches. Tracheo-
bronchial muscles to the syrinx or 4 sound box * absent, therefore lacking voice and
calls. Most species produce low grunting and hissing noises, and a loud castanet-Iike
clattering or snapping of the mandibles.
Unlike herons, storks fly with neck and legs fully outstretched like cranes, ibises
and spoonbills, by a series of wing flaps interspersed with sailing.
range. Temperate and tropical zones of the Old and New Worlds. Seventeen
species in all, the northern ones migratory.
food. Mainly small animals — mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, fish,
crustaceans, insects, etc.
breeding. Nests, large stick platforms in trees, or on cliffs and buildings. Eggs ,
3^-6 white. Incubation and nest feeding by both sexes. Chicks nidicolous; naked at
first, downy later. Food regurgitated by parent into nest, whence guzzled by nestlings.
For structural and morphological details see Baker 1929, 6: 320; Witherby et al .
1939, 3:112; Strescmann 1927-34, Aves: 807-9.
Key to the Indian forma
A Mandibles with edges not touching, leaving open gap near centre of
bill 1
Page
92
Cl CON II FORMES
1 Primaries, secondaries, scapulars, and tail black, rest of plumage Page
white ' , Anastomus oscitans (breeding) 95
Primaries, secondaries, scapulars, and tail black, rest of plumage
grey . , Anastomus oscitans (non-breeding) 95
B Mandibles touching .2
2 Bill straight, head and neck unfeathered, prominent gular pouch,
wing over 75 cm. ( c . 30 in.) a
Bill straight, head and neck unfeathered, gular pouch absent, wing
under 70 cm. (r. 28 in.) b
Bill straight, head and neck generally feathered c
Bill slightly upeurved at end, head feathered d
Bill downcurved, head naked e
a Upperparts, including wings, slaty grey. Silvery grey stripe across
wings Leptoptilos dubius (breeding) 105
Silvery grey stripe absent Leptoptilos dubius (non-breeding) 105
Upperparts blackish brown Leptoptilos dubius (juvenal) 105
b Upperparts glossy black, copper spots on secondary coverts
Leptoptilos javanicus (breeding) 107
Copper spots lacking Leptoptilos javanicus (non-breeding) 107
Plumage dull black above, head and neck with patches of feathers
leptoptilos javanicus (juvenal) 107
c Plumage white, scapulars and wing quills black
Ciconia ciconia (adult) 99, 102
Black of wings replaced with brown Ciconia ciconia (juvenal) 99, 102
Neck white, back and wings glossy black
Ciconia episcopus (adult) 98
Glossy black replaced by dull, dark brown
Ciconia episcopus (juvenal) 98
d Plumage black with white underparts (standing c . 106 cm. 3$
ft,) Ciconia nigra (adult) 102
Neck brown, back dull blackish brown, underparts white......
Ciconia nigra (juvenal) 102
Head, neck, and scapulars iridescent black, remainder of plumage
white (standing c . 135 cm. = H ft.)
Xenorhynchus asiaticus (adult) 104
Black of head, neck, and scapulars replaced by dusky brown. . . .
Xenorhynchus asiaticus (juvenal) 104
e Neck white Ibis leucocephalus (adult) 93
Neck brown Ibis leucocephalus (juvenal) 93
Genus Ibis Lac6pMe
Ibis Lac£pfcde, 1799, Tabl. Ois.: 18. Type, by tautonymy, Ibis candtdus Daudin «*=
Tantalus ibis Linnaeus
Bill long, and very slightly compressed, broad at the base. Culmen rounded
throughout; slightly turned downwards throughout its length; lower mandible
concave beneath. Both mandibles subcylindrical anteriorly. Nostrils oval, placed
near base of culmen. Head and throat naked; nape and neck feathered. Legs long
with tibia half naked; toes long. Under tail-coverts very long, extending beyond
tail. Represented in our area by only one species.
93
STORKS
60. Painted Stork* Ibis leucotephalus (Pennant)
Tantalus kuctcepkalus Pennant, 1769, Indian Zool.: 11, pi. 10 (Ceylon)
Baker, FBI No. 2214, Vol. 6: 331
Plate 2, fig. 4, facing p. 32
touAL names. Jdnghil , Dhok (Hindi) ; Kdnkari (Mirshikars, Bihar) ; Jdnghil t Ram
jh&nkar , Sona jdngha (Bengal) ; Lamjang , Lungduk (Sind) ; Chitrdda (Kutch) ; Teru kald
konga (Telugu); Chingd nardi (Tamil); Sdnguvdlai ndrdi (Tamil, Ceylon) ; Dag tuduwa
(Sinhala).
size. Vulture ±; standings 93 cm. (3J ft.).
field characters. A long-legged, long-necked, egret-like marsh bird
with long, heavy yellow bill slightly decurved at tip, and unfeathered
waxy yellow face. Plumage white, closely barred with metallic greenish
black above, with a black band across breast. Delicate rose-pink near
the tail (closed inner secondaries). Wing- and tail-quills black. Sexes
alike.
Flight silhouette somewhat hunchbacked, neck outstretched (head lower
than line of back) and long legs trailing straight behind.
Young (immature). Pale brown with dark scale-like edges to the neck
feathers. No pectoral band.
STATUS, distribution and habitat. Resident, shifting locally with water
conditions. Throughout the plains of the Indian Union, both Pakistans,
Nepal terai, Ceylon (low country dry zone). Not recorded in the Andaman
Is. Affects inland marshes, j heels, inundated fields, and occasionally river
banks.
Extralimital . Burma, Thailand, N. Malaya (vagrant), Indochina, SW.
China.
qeneral habits. Normally met with in pairs or small parties. In the
breeding season enormous congregations of up to several thousand strong
may collect at favourite heronries, e.g. Keoladeo Ghana in Rajasthan.
-Such heronries tend to become traditional if left unmolested. The birds
feed gregariously where food is abundant, such as when large quantities of
fish are washed down by monsoon floods. Usually they hunt individually,
wading into shallow water with neck bent down, mandibles open like an
enormous pair of forceps and partly immersed, probing the bottom mud.
The bird saunters about slowly ploughing the water thus. From time to
time one leg is partly flexed and deliberately waggled back and forth in a
raking motion, occasionally supplemented by a sudden flicking open of the
wing on the same side. This manoeuvre is obviously intended for stampeding
* frozen 9 quarry towards the open mandibles. Its success is evident from
the snapping arid swallowing action that frequently follows. When sated,
the birds spend their time standing about hunchbacked on the bank, or
soaring on thermals for hours on end, circling aloft on motionless wings in
company with pelicans and other stork-like birds. Normal flight typical of
the family (q.v.), accompanied by a rhythmical slight opening and closing
of bill as if gasping for breath.
rood. Mainly fish* Also reptiles, frogs, crustaceans, and insects.
voice and calls. Silent except for the characteristic clattering of the
mandibles of the family. During greeting ceremony at nest a low moan
94
Cl CON II FORMES
produced by both ( ?) sexes. A continuous harsh grating or scraping noise
by half-grown nestlings when begging food.
breeding. Colonial, sometimes several thousand pairs together in mixed
heronries. Season , variable, dependent on monsoon conditions. Normally
August to October in N. India; November to March in the south; March-
April in Ceylon. In drought years breeding may be skipped altogether.
Nest, a large stick platform with a shallow central depression sparsely lined
with leaves, straw, and waterweeds; added to desultorily throughout
occupation with leafy twigs or green water vines (e.g. Ipomoea). Built in large
or medium sized trees standing in water, such as babool (Acacia arabica ),
k&ndi ( Prosopis spicigera), kelik&d&mb (Stepkegyne parvijlora) and Barringtonia
racemosa, often twenty nests or more on a single tree crowded cheek by jowl
in disorderly tiers, in amicable association with cormorants, darters, open-
bill storks, and others. Not uncommonly also on single large peepul (Ficus
religiosa) or suchlike trees overhanging a pond within a populated town.
Eggs , 2 to 5 — most commonly 3 or 4 — dull sullied white, sometimes
sparsely spotted and streaked with brown. Average size of 50 eggs 69-5 X
49*0 mm. (Baker). Both sexes share all the domestic chores. Period of
incubation undetermined. Adult, on arrival at nest, greets incubating mate
by craning forward and stiffly arching neck (as in aggressive vulture at a
carcase), with bill partly open as if about to be sick ! This gesture recipro-
cated by mate in the same way, both ( ?) birds uttering a low moan during
the ceremony, sometimes crossing the stiffly arched necks the while. In
nest relief the incoming bird is greeted by its incubating mate standing
up on the edge of the nest, both birds ruffling their long, lax, under tail-
coverts, bending their heads together down into the nest, shifting from one
foot to the other, and making as if to adjust the twigs in the structure
before the newcomer takes over. While one bird is brooding its mate often
flies out, maybe half a kilometre or more, to fetch tender leafy babool branches
to add to the nest. Twigs wrenched off topmost branches with much effort,
and sections of floating Ipomoea vine collected from the water — sometimes
absurdly large bushy branches, at others ridiculously tiny or scraggy leafless
twigs or rush-blades. Twigs broken off tops of only certain individual trees
to which many birds from the neighbourhood may resort, several tugging
at the same time. When the forager returns with material, the sitting bird
greets him (or her) with clattering of mandibles, bill-touching and tail-
spreading.
In the pre-clambering stage, small nestlings very intolerant of hot sun;
constantly shielded by parent standing on edge of nest with partly open,
drooping wings. On fright they disgorge all undigested food and feign death
in a realistic manner, crumpling up pathetically on the floor of the nest
Three-quarter-grown, chicks clamber about the neighbouring branches. On
return of foraging parent they quickly scramble back to the nest and beg
with open bills and partly open flapping wings, bobbing or ‘pumping*
head up and down with a continuous rasping or scraping cry, rather as of
vultures in copulation. Sometimes incoming parent sits inert for long periods
beside the nest (in one case 45 minutes) before stepping on to the edge and
disgorging 6 to 8 large fish, along with much slimy matter. The chicks
gobble these up from the nest floor, the more impatient ones poking their
STORKS
95
bills into the parent’s gullet and tugging at the fish to speed it on its way.
Possibly the delay in delivery is due to the necessity of predigesting the food
for the young.
Museum Diagnosis. Chick (in down). Sullied white with naked black face and black
bill tipped with pale greenish yellow or sulphur yellow, more extensively on upper
mandible. Also yellow on short thick (naked) eyebrow, at anterior end of eye and
along naked hindneck.
MEASUREMENTS
Wing Bill Tarsus Tail
(from feathers)
490-510 252-278 240-250 150-172 mm.
(Baker)
colours of bare parts. Iris straw yellow; grey-brown in immature. Bill
orange- yellow, darker and plumbeous at base; naked skin of face orange-yellow.
Legs and feet brown or fleshy brown, sometimes nearly red.
Genus Anastomus Bonnaterre
Anastomus Bonnaterre, 1791, Tabl. Encyc. M£th. Orn,, 1 : xciii. Type, by subsequent
designation, Ardea oscitans Boddaert
Bill stout and strong; gonys considerably upeurved; an open space between the
mandibles for about two-thirds their length in the middle. Anterior half of upper
mandible furnished with lamellae. Face, chin, and throat naked in adults; feathered
all but the lores and throat in juveniles. Tarsus about equal to culmen in length;
reticulated throughout. Toes and claws longer than in other genera of Ciconiidae.
61. Openbill Stork. Anastomus oscitans (Boddaert)
Ardea oscitans Boddaert, 1783, Table Pi. enlum. : 55 (Pondicherry)
Baker, FBI No. 2215, Vol. 6: 333
Plate 2, fig. 7, facing p. 32
local names. Gungld , Gkungil , Ghonghila (Hindi) ; Dokar (Bihar) ; Thonte bhanga .
Shdmukh bhanga, Shdmukh khol (Bengal) ; Pouna konga (Southern Gonds) ; Galu konga
(Tehigu); Naththai kuththi nardi (Tamil); Gombelle kokka , Rellan kokka, Beli
kava (Sinhala); Samuk bhanga (‘snail breaker*. Assamese, Nowgong); Cherakokkan
(Malayalam).
size. Large duck; length c , 81 cm. (32 in.). Standing c. 68cm. (2} it.)
to top of head.
field characters. A small stork, chiefly white with glistening purplish
black or greenish black mantle (scapulars), wings, and tail. The peculiar-
shaped bill with arching mandibles, leaving a narrow open gap between
them, is diagnostic. Casually mistakable in the distance for White Stork,
Ciconia ciconia (q.v.). Sexes alike.
In non-breeding plumage white upper parts replaced by dull smoky grey.
Young (immature). Darker smoky brown-grey with blackish brown
mantle.
status, distribution and habitat. Resident, shifting locally with
water conditions. Possibly regular local migrant in parts (?). Throughout
96
CICONIIFORMES
the Indian Uniori, both Pakistans, Nepal (terai), and Ceylon. Affects inland
waters — jheels, fnarshes, etc.; rarely river banks, and tidal mud flats.
ExtralimitaL Burma, Thailand, east through the Indochinese subregion,
migration. Apart from local shifts directly influenced by water condi-
tions, performs some sort of regular migratory movement, as yet Kttle
understood. Birds are constantly reported dashing themselves against the
dome of the lantern at various coastal lighthouses, e.g. Point Calimere
(Tanjavur dist., Madras) and Sacramento (E. Godavari disk* Andhra),
x C. i
This occurs only during the later monsoon months (August-September) on
particular nights in the dark period of the moon, in overcast weather
with low clouds, poor visibility and heavy wind. The falls occur before
midnight or in the very early dark hours of morning, when a sedentary
diurnal bird as this should normally have no business to be about !
Nestlings ringed at Bharatpur (Rajasthan) have been recovered a few
months later up to 800 km. due east, suggesting definite seasonal movement.
Further evidence of long migration provided by a bird ringed in Thailand
(Wat Phailom, 14°06' N., 100°33' E.) on 5.ii.l965, recovered in East
Pakistan (Jessore 23°20' N., 89°20' E.) on 26.vi.1966 — a straight line
distance of c. 1500 km. It is possible that after leaving the nest the young
of this stork also disperse and wander far and wide, as young Grey Herons
are well known to do.
general habits. Our smallest and commonest stork, with a wide local
distribution. Met with singly or in small parties and flocks ; large congrega-
tions when nesting. Like others of the family, regularly soars on thermals
on a sunny day, circling for hours high up in the heavens in company with
pelicans, ibises, and vultures, etc. The descent from aloft is a spectacular
performance. With erect neck, head held high (cocked), wings half pulled
in, the dangling legs partly flexed and straddled to balance — sometimes
worked back and forth as in running — the bird hurtles steeply through space,
banking, side-slipping, and gyrating violently, till within a few short seconds,
from a mere speck in the sky, it has swished down to alight buoyantly on
a tree-top in the colony, preceded by a vigorous braking with the wings.
The significance and function of the peculiar gap in the bill b obscure.
It is not meant for crushing snail shells as sometimes suggested. However,
it is obviously an adaptation to facilitate extraction of the soft body and
viscera of molluscs from the shell, particularly of the large Pita globosa
snails on which the bird commonly feeds, The precise mechanics of the
process have not been observed. In captivity Jerdon (1862-4) records that
even blinded Openbills secured the shell with their feet and after some
manipulation ‘ succeeded in cutting off the operculum as cleanly as if it
PLATE
1 Phaethon r. rubric auda, Redtailed Tropic-bird (18). 2 A idea insignia Great Whilrbellied Heron
(33). 3 Egietta g. schist acea , Indian Reel Heron (50). 4 Botaums s. stellar is. Bittern (59). 5 Arden goliath ,
Giant Heron (34). 6 Pseudibis p. paptUosa, Black Ibis (70). 7 Plegadis f falcinellus , Glossy Ibis (71).
8 Plalalea 1. major, Spoonbill (72). 9 Ixobrychus sinensis, Yellow Bittern (57). 10 hobrychus minutus,
f Jtfrlf* Rihprn /' c i l VL
STORKS
97
had been done by a razor but so rapidly that he was unable to follow
the details. After removing the operculum the bird inserted the tip of its
mandibles and * pulled out the entire shell fish almost to its utmost tip
Examination of Pila shells immediately after they had been emptied by
Openbills showed that pressure exerted by the mandibles on the thin and
brittle rim of the mouth had cracked off a section of it, allowing the bill
tip to be inserted below the operculum to prise it up. How the soft parts
are extracted so cleanly and rapidly remains a puzzle. The shells are often
tackled under water with the mandibles of the bird partly open and sub-
merged to above the eyes. The rapidity with which the bill is raised again
and again to swallow the morsels is quite amazing. Before withdrawing,
the head is shaken from side to side in the water as if to wash off the mud
from the food.
food. Chiefly molluscs. From the bill and gullet of a specimen eight com-
plete bodies and viscera of large Pila globosa snails have been taken. Also
eats crabs, frogs, and other small animals found on its accustomed feeding
marshes.
voice and calls. Very silent except for occasional deep moans and
clattering of mandibles during greeting ceremony at nest. During
copulation & clatters his bill against that of 9 (M. P. Kahl).
breeding. Colonial, in large mixed heronries sometimes several thousand
pairs (e.g. at Keoladeo Ghana, Rajasthan). Season , mainly July to September
in north India ; November to March in the south ; December to April in
Ceylon; dependent on monsoon and water conditions. In drought years
breeding may be skipped altogether. Nest , a rough circular pad of twigs
with a central depression lined with leaves, etc. Built in trees such as Acacia ,
Prosopis y or Barringtonia, standing partially submerged in a jheel or monsoon-
filled depression. Occasionally on the edge of a tank, in or close to a village.
Many nests (up to 30 or more) on a single tree, in crowded association
with darters, cormorants, and egrets with a tendency to segregation. Nests
in such crowded situations become thickly caked with chalky white excreta
from the jostling occupants of adjacent nests. Eggs, 2 to 4, rarely 5, sullied
white, broad to moderate ovals, with a close texture. Average size of 100 eggs
57*9 X 41*2 mm. (Baker). Both sexes partake in all the domestic chores.
Period of incubation believed to be 24-5 days; not confirmed. Chicks
clothed in pale fawn-coloured down. Intolerant of the hot sun, and constantly
shielded by parents standing on edge of nest with open drooping wings.
Fed by regurgitation by parent on to floor of nest, almost exclusively on
soft bodies and viscera of large snails. Importunate chicks often short-circuit
the food from the parent’s open bill during the disgorgement process. On
fright they throw up large boluses of it (once c. 58 gm.).
Till young flies from nest, bill of normal shape with close fitting mand-
ibles; subsequent development of gap needs study.
Museum Diagnosis
MEASUREMENTS
Wing Bill Tarsus Tail
(from feathers)
392-408 153-162 c. 140-150 183-217 mm.
(Baker)
1
98 CICONIIFORMES
colours of rare parts. Adult, Iris almost white, grey, or pale brown*
Bill dull greenish homy, redder beneath; or dusky red. Orbital skin and naked
lores black. Legs and feet dull fleshy. Grown nestling. Iris greyish brown. Bill
dark brown; gular skin bright purple. Legs and feet greyish- or pinkish brown.
Genus Ciconia Brisson
Ciconia Brisson, 1760, Om., 1: 48, 5: 361. Type, by tautonymy, Ciconia «* Ardta
Ciconia Linnaeus
Bill long, stout, tapering, and pointed, the lower mandible slightly inclined
upwards anteriorly. Nostrils almost linear, basal, and pervious. Part of lores, and
chin, naked. Lower half of tibia naked. Tarsi long and reticulated. Feet short with
broad toes; claws very short, broad, and depressed. Feathers oflower neck elongated,
partly overhanging breast. For further structural details see Withcrby 1939, 3: 115,
62. Whltenecked Stork. Ciconia episcopus episcopus (Boddaert)
Ardta episcopus Boddaert, 1783, Table PL enlum.: 54 (Coromandel Coast)
Baker, FBI No. 2210, Vol. 6: 342
Plate 2, fig. 8, facing p. 32
local names. Mantis jor (Bengal) ; Ldgldg (Hindi); Bdgula f Kdrdok , Kandesur,
Kowrow (Marathi); Kali till (Giyarat) ; Vdnndthi nardi (Tamil); Karma (Assam);
Karim kokku (Malayalam); Padili kokka (Sinhala).
size. Goose ±; standing c. 106 cm. (3J ft.) to top of head.
field characters. A red-legged black and white stork with conspicuous
white neck and black crown (like a padre’s skull-cap). Rest of plumage
including short tail black glossed with purple or greenish blue, except
elongated under tail-coverts which are white. Sexes alike.
x c. i
Young (immature). The glossy black replaced by dull dark brown,
but sometimes as in adult. Feathers of neck longer and more fluffy. (For
description of nestling 1 week old, see Whistler JBNHS 25; 746.)
status, distribution and habitat. Resident. Sparsely distributed
throughout the well watered parts of India, both Pakisians, Nepal (to c .
1250 m. elevation), Ceylon. Locally not uncommon. Low country, plateaux,
and up to at least c . 650 m. in the peninsular hills in suitable biotope. Affects
flooded grassland and fallows, irrigated ploughed fields, rain-filled puddles
and depressions, banks of streams, seepage marshes, etc. Often deep in
forest where marshes occur. Rarely on tidal creeks, and only far up from
the sea.
STORKS
99
Extralimital. . Burma. Other races in Africa and SE. Asia.
general habits. Met with as a solitary, in pairs, or small parties — a
dock of fifteen being the largest ever recorded by us (SA), Stalks about
and feeds on dry or marshy land, seldom wading in water or immersing
bill. Roosts at night in tall trees. Has the common habit of soaring on ther-
mals on a sunny day and gliding in circles high up in the sky in company
with related birds, and with vultures,
food. Frogs, reptiles, crabs, molluscs, and large insects. Fish only
when stranded high and dry by receding flood, or from drying up water-
holes in forest streams, etc. Has been observed to pick winged termites
emerging from the ground and also in the air, flying back and forth through
a rising swarm and snapping up the insects in the bill (Ball 1874, SF2:433).
voice and calls. Silent except for a clattering of the mandibles with
neck bent over backwards and crown resting between the shoulders.
breeding. Individual; not in colonies. Season , variable; mostly July
to September in northern India; December to March in the south; January
to April in Ceylon. Nest, a massive structure of twigs, c, 1 metre in diameter,
with a considerable central depression lined with straw, almost deep enough
to hide the bird when sitting close. Usually built in a lofty tree such as
Salmalia some 20 to 30 metres from the ground. Sometimes also lower down
in medium sized trees. The same site may be used in subsequent years if
the birds are left undisturbed. Eggs , broad to pointed ovals, 3 or 4, rarely 5,
white, but becoming stained brown during incubation through contact
with the bird’s muddy feet. Very variable in size and shape. Average size
of 100 eggs 62*9 X 47*4 mm. (Baker). Both sexes take part in building the
nest and feeding the young; presumably also in incubation (unconfirmed).
Period of incubation unrecorded. Young fed by regurgitation of predigested
food by parent into nest, as in other storks.
Museum Diagnosis. Forehead, sides of head to behind the eye naked. Tail (black)
short and deeply forked. Under tail-coverts (white), longer than tail and with stiff
shafts, giving the impression of being the true tail.
MEASUREMENTS
Wing Bill Tarsus Tail
(from feathers)
<?9 444-497 145-168 c. 152-180 199-255 mm.
(Baker)
Two males collected by SA recently have wings 515-519 mm. } showing the wide
diversity in the range.
colours of bare parts. Iris brown. Bill black, red on oilmen, gonys, along
the commissure, and at tips of both mandibles. Naked skin of face, chin, and throat
slaty black. Legs and feet red lake.
63. White Stork. Ciconia ciconia ciconia (Linnaeus)
Ardea Ciconia Linnaeus, 1758, Sy&t. Nat., ed. 10, 1: 142 (Sweden)
Baker FBI No. 2207, Vol. 6: 321
Plate 6, fig. 2, facing p. 112
LOCAL names. L&gldgi HSji Idglag, Ujli, Dhak , Gy bar, Bdda ritwa (Hindi) ; Wadumi
konga (Teiugu) ; IMM (Sind).
100
Cl CONI I FORMES
size. Goose ± ; standing c . 106 cm, (3$ ft.) to top of head.
field characters. A long-legged, long-necked, egret-like bird* all
white except for the longer scapulars and wing quills which are black. Legs
and heavy pointed bill red. Feathers of head, neck, and breast long and
lanceolate. Sexes alike.
Young (immature). Like adult, but the black parts are brown or tinged
brown, and some pf the shorter scapulars have brown centres.
Nestling (in down), snow white, with blackish bill and grey legs and
feet.
status, distribution and habitat. Winter visitor, arriving September/
October, all gone by March /April. Fairly common in West Pakistan,
northwestern India, Nepal terai. In smaller numbers east and south in
the Gangetic Plain (Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Orissa, W. Bengal), Assam,
East Pakistan, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Maharashtra.
Decreasingly south through the Deccan (Andhra, Madras, Mysore). The
records from the eastern side of the subcontinent — Bengal, E. Pakistan,
Assam, etc. — probably relate to the next subspecies ( boyciana ).
Ciconia cicon/a
There is a single sight record from Ceylon where it is evidently a rare
straggler. Also a very doubtful and incredible one of a pair nesting in the
NW. Province of the island in 1880 (Wait 1931 : 419).
Parties or small flocks by jheels and in marshy fields, etc.
Extralimilal. Breeds in Europe north to 60° N. lat., N. Africa, Western
Alia (Asia Minor, Iraq, Iran, Turkestan).
general habits. Stalks along sedately in search of food on marshy
grassland, freshly drained fallows or moist fields ploughed for winter crops.
STORKS
101
Though almost domesticated and enjoying protection by popular sentiment
as a harbinger of good luck in most countries where it nests, the bird is
usually wary and difficult to approach in its Indian winter quarters. Flight
— a few flaps followed by a glide — appears leisurely, but is fast and strong.
Royal Air Force pilots in Mesopotamia during World War I clocked the
speed of migrating storks at about 48 miles (77 km.) per hour. Has the
common habit of soaring on thermals and gliding in circles high up in the
heavens for many hours at a stretch in company with its allies — other
stork species, pelicans, etc. Often roosts at night in bare tree-tops.
food. Frogs, reptiles, crustaceans, young rodents, occasionally fish,
but very largely orthopterous insects, of which seasonally locusts in all
stages — from egg to adult — form a considerable proportion. For this
reason it enjoys additional protection in many countries both in its breeding
and wintering areas.
voice. Poorly developed. Adults practically silent but for the charac-
teristic bill-clattering of the family — a form of 4 percussion music \ In this
the head is tlirown backward till the crown and oilmen nearly touch the
back. The mandibles are clattered rapidly, producing a castanet-like
rattling, variable in volume and tempo. The puffed-out gular pouch func-
tions as a resonator. While thus clattering, the head is slowly returned to
the normal position and continued in an arc, till the bill nearly rests on the
ground. Frequently both birds of a pair (especially in courtship) indulge in
a bill-clattering duct, standing breast to breast.
migration. Little precise data available for India, but southward
passage (autumn) observed through NW. Pakistan, across the Great Rann
of Kutch, and Rajasthan. Northward passage (spring) recorded in Kurram
Valley, April to end May (Whitehead, JBNHS 20: 976), A nestling ringed
in Braunschweig, Germany (c. 52°N., 10°E.) and recovered a few months
later in Bikaner, Rajasthan ( c . 28°N., 73°E.), is our only positive evidence
that some at least of our winter visitors may derive from Europe.
breeding. Extralimital. Season , March to May. Nest, a large stick
platform placed on buildings, chimney stacks, cliffs or tall trees near human
habitations. In the Middle East old mosques are commonly resorted to,
whence the bird’s claim to veneration by the Muslim populace. Known in
Iran as Hdji Ldglag from its habit of settling on mosques and the popular
belief that it migrates annually for pilgrimage to Mecca ! Eggs , 3 to 5, pure
white. Average size of 1 20 eggs 73-2 X 58 * 8 mm. (Baker) . Incubation period
about 30 days.
Museum Diagnosis
MEASUREMENTS
Wing Bill Tarsus Tail
(from feathers)
530 — 635 c. 150-220
i c. 180-230 215-240 mm.
9 9 530—590 <?. 140-175 J
colours of bare parts. Iris brown or greyish brown. Bill bright red. Bare
loral and orbital skin, and chin, black. Legs and feet bright red.
The Turkestan race asiatica , supposedly larger and with a larger bill, is not suffi-
ciently differentiated and of dubious validity.
102
CICONII FORMES
64. Eastern White Stork. Ciconia ciconia boy cion a Swinhoe
Ciconia bqyciana Swinhoe, 1873, Proc. ZooL Soc. London ; 513 (Yokohama)
Baker, FBI No. 2208. VoL 6 ; 322
LOCAL names. As for 63.
size. Slightly larger than the preceding, but difference hardly perceptible
in the field.
field characters. Differs from No. 63 chiefly in having a larger and
black {contra red) bill.
status, distribution and habitat. Uncommon winter visitor to
Assam, Manipur, and E. Pakistan, where Stuart Baker saw a pair ( c with
conspicuous black bills ’) in Khulna.
Extralimital. Breeds from Lower Ussuri and Amur rivers to Korea
and Japan.
general habits. Same as in the nominate race. Nothing specifically
recorded in its Indian winter quarters.
Museum Diagnosis. Black bill and larger measurements:
dP 9 Wing 620-670; bill (from feathers) 195-222 (Baker), (from skull) 200-260
mm. (Hartert).
colours of bare parts. * Iris rosy pink with an outer ring of black * (David &
Oustalet). Bill black in breeding season, tinged purplish at base. Other parts as in
nominate race (Baker). 4 Naked skin round eye red; skin of [throat] pouch red;
bill blackish; legs and feet red * (La Touche).
65. Black Stork. Ciconia nigra (Linnaeus)
Ardea nigra Linnaeus, 1758, Syst. Nat., ed. 10, 1 : 142 (Sweden)
Baker, FBI No. 2209, Vol. 6: 323
Plate 6, fig. 3, facing p. 112
local name. Surmal (Hindi).
size. White Stork ± \ standing c . 106 cm. (3$ ft.) to top of head.
field characters. A black stork with white underparts.
Adult. Above , including head and neck, black highly glossed with
green, bronze and purple. Below , lower breast, belly, flanks and under
tail-coverts white. Sexes alike.
Young (immature). Head, neck and upper breast dark brown, each
feather tipped paler. Mantle dull brownish black. Underparts white.
Nestling (in down). Snow-white with lemon -yellow bill and bright
rosy legs which later turn almost white.
status, distribution and habitat. Winter visitor to West Pakistan and
northern India, from Baluchistan, Sind, NWF. Province, and the Punjab
through the Nepal lowlands (to c . 900 m. alt.) and the Gangetic Plain
to eastern Assam; south through Rajasthan normally to about Kutch and
northern Gujarat. Rare in the Deccan, south to r, 18°N. lat. (Sholapur disk).
Has not been recorded in South India, and only once in Ceylon (Phillips,
Ibis 1940: 333-4). Occurs on spring passage in Kashmir (Ward, JBNHS
17: 947), and in both spring and autumn in Gilgit (Scully, SF 10: 143).
Extralimital . Breeds in Denmark, Sweden, and Germany, east through
Russia and Asia to N. China. Winters also in Africa.
STORKS
m
general habits. Not appreciably different from those of the White
Stork except that perhaps it usually keeps more to marshy ground and the
neighbourhood of rivers and inland waters, and is even more shy and wary.
Seen in pairs, small parties of 10 or 12, or large herds — an exceptional
one of * not less than 500 * recorded by Hume near the Ghenab river, Punjab
(SF 1 : 106). Its association with the Whitenecked Stork has been repeatedly
remarked.
food. Animal matter — frogs, fish, Crustacea, insects, and occasionally
young or disabled rodents, birds, etc.
voice. Seldom heard in India, but in breeding season said to be more
vocal than White Stork, adults producing a variety of guttural notes
(reported by several observers as * melodious’), and nestlings a heron-like
chatter. Bill-clattering is rare.
breeding. Season , in central Europe April /May. Nest , a large stick
platform built in a lofty pine, oak, or other tree, 10 to 25 metres from the
ground; never on buildings. Eggs , 3 to 5, blunt oval, white. Average size of
100 eggs 65*3 x 48*7 mm. (Baker).
(For a full account of breeding, courtship, etc. see Withcrby et al.
1939, 3: 116-18, mostly culled from the excellent observations of Horst
Siewert in Germany, recorded in his book Storche, 1932.)
Museum Diagnosis. For full description of plumages etc. see Withcrby 1939,
3: 117-18.
MEASUREMENTS
Wing Bill Tarsus Tail
(from feathers)
520-605 160-190 c. 180-200 190-24 & mm.
(Baker)
104
Cl CONI I FORMES
Weight of an adult male recorded by Scully, 7 lb, ( «* c. 3* 17 kg,).
colours or bare farts. Iris brown or black. Bill red, pale at tip. Bare facial
skin deep red. Legs and feet coral or scarlet-red,
miscellaneous. Longevity (from ringing data): 14+ years (Ring, 1962,
33: 148),
Genus Xenorhynchus Bonaparte
Xtnorhynchus Bonaparte, 1855, Consp. Av., 2: 106. Type, by subsequent designation,
MycUria australis Shaw
Bill very long, and curved slightly upwards at the tip. Tarsus very long. Head
and neck completely feathered.
66. Blacknecked Stork. Xenorhynchus asiaticus asiaticus (Latham)
Mycteria asiatica Latham, 1790, Index Om., 2: 670 (India)
Baker, FBI No. 2211, Vol. 6 : 326
Plate 2, fig. 10, facing p. 32
local names. Banaras , Lohdrjdng, Loha sarong (Hindi) ; Lohdr jdngh or Loha jdngha
(Bengal); Telia kdreng (Assam); Periya ndrdi (Tamil); Peddd Mid kottga (Tetugu);
Ali kokka (Sinhala).
size. Painted Stork +; standing c. 135 cm. (4J ft.) to top of head.
field characters. A handsome black-and-white stork with massive
black bill and long coral-red legs. In overhead flight large size, black neck
and bill, pure white underparts (including all wing quills) with a broad
black diagonal band across each wing diagnostic.
Adult . Above, head, neck, scapulars, and tail black, brilliantly glossed
with green-blue, purple, and bronze. Back (interscapulars to upper -tail-
coverts) pure white. Below , from upper breast to under tail-coverts, pure
white. Sexes alike except for colour of eyes; brown in male, conspicuous
bright lemon-yellow in female.
Young (immature). Rather like a large washed-out example of Black
Stork: the glossy black parts replaced by dull brown; white parts less pure
and duskier.
Nestling (in down). Completely snow-white at first, head and neck
changing to greyish black later.
status, distribution and habitat. Resident Widespread but sporadic
and nowhere abundant. All India (rare in the south), both Pakistans, Nepal
terai, Ceylon (low country dry zone). Affects lowland marshes, jheels, and
large rivers. Occasionally tidal mangrove swamps.
ExtralimitaL Burma, Malaysia, Thailand, Indochinese countries. The race
australis extends the species to Australia.
oeneral habits. Keeps solitarily or in widely separated pairs apparently
with recognized feeding territories; after the breeding season in small parties
consisting of adults and young. Usually seen wading in shallow water or
stalking sedately on a squelchy marsh in search of food, or squatted on its
tarsi on dry ground at the edge. Has the characteristic stork habit of soaring
and circling aloft in the heat of the day. Normally shy and suspicious.
STORKS 105
food. Chiefly fish, but also frogs, reptiles, crabs, and any other small
animals that can be come by.
voice. Of adults unrecorded. When disturbed on nest, or otherwise
agitated, e.g. a wounded bird about to be captured, the bill is clattered
aggressively. Downy nestlings being hand-reared produced 1 a sort of ckack
followed by wee-wee-wee repeated two or three times \ They also stretched
up their necks and clattered their bills when suddenly disturbed, and then
produced the above sounds (McCann, JBNHS 34: 581).
display. Since Hume’s vivid but fragmentary account in Nests and
Eggs of Indian Birds (1890, 3: 266) nothing new has been added to warrant
a reinterpretation of the antics described. Hume wrote: * A pair will gravely
stalk up to each other, and when about a yard or two feet apart will stand
face to face, extend their long black and white wings, and while they flutter
these very rapidly, so that the points of the wings of the one flap against the
points of the other’s wings, advance their heads till they nearly meet, and
both simultaneously clatter their bills like a couple of watchmen’s rattles.’
breeding. Season, overall September to December varying locally with
the early or late cessation of the rains. Nest, an enormous platform of sticks,
often thorny, 1 to 2 metres in diameter, with the central portion lined with
straw, leaves, bits of rag, etc. Placed singly 20 to 25 metres up near the top
of a large peepul ( Ficus religiosa) or similar tree standing solitary in the
midst of cultivation, not necessarily close to water. Eggs, 3 or 4, rarely 5,
typical broad blunt smooth-textured ovals, white in colour with the inner
membrane dull green. Average size of 75 eggs 72*1 X 53*4 mm. (Baker).
Both sexes build the nest and feed the young by regurgitation on to
the nest floor. Share of the sexes in incubation, and incubation period,
unrecorded.
Museum Diagnosis
MEASUREMENTS
Wing Bill Tarsus Tail
(from feathers)
565-645 298-324 c. 300-333 257-281 mm.
(Baker)
colours op bare parts. Iris dark brown ; 9 lemon-yellow. Bill black.
Naked skin of gular pouch and eyelids dull purple. Legs and feet coral-red.
Genus Leptoptilos Lesson
Leptoptilos Lesson, 1831, Traits d’Orn., livr. 8: 583. Type, by subsequent
designation, Ardea dubia Gmelin
Bill very large, high at base, tapering gradually to tip. Culmen and commissure
almost straight, the former about as long as, or a little longer than, tarsus. Nostrils
small, narrow, placed near culmen. Head and neck naked except for sparse scattered
hair-like feathers. Crown bald.
67. Adjutant Stork. Leptoptilos dubius (Gmelin)
Ardea dubia Gmelin, 1789, Ryst, Nat., 1(2): 624 (India)
Baker, FBI No. 2212, Vol. 6: 327
Plate 2, fig. 9, facing p. 92
local names. Hdrgila , Gdrur, Peda dhauk (Hindi); Dhmk (Mirshikats, Bihar);
Dusta (Hindi in Deccan) ; Hdrgila (Bengal); Peenigdld konga (Telugu).
106
Cl CON 1 1 FORMES
size. Vulture •+■> standing 120-150 cm. (4 to 5 ft.) to top of head.
field characters. The largest and ugliest of our storks; black, grey
and dirty white with naked reddish and yellow head and neck and a huge
four-sided wedge-shaped bill. A naked pinkish guiar pouch 25-35 cm.
long, hanging from base of neck, distinguishes it from the Smaller Adjutant
(next species).
In overhead flight the broad black wings with a whitish band along the
middle are distinctive.
Adult (breeding). Above > including wings and tail, blackish slaty grey
slightly glossed with green. Innermost secondaries and greater wing-coverts
silvery grey forming a broad band on wing. A ruff of fluffy white feathers
round base of neck. Below , white, including soft flimsy under tail-coverts.
Adult (non-breeding) lacks the silvery grey wing-band. Sexes alike.
Young (immature). Scantily feathered on the naked parts. Inner
secondaries and edverts dark brown.
Nestling (in down). Pure white.
status, distribution and habitat. Uncertain. Largely nomadic and
local migrant. Breeding principally, and abundantly, in Burma, but only
sporadically in Assam, Orissa, and E. Pakistan (Sunderbans). Not
uncommon in northern India — chiefly during the rains — from Sind
through Kutch, N. Gujarat, Rajasthan, Nepal terai, and the Gangetic
Plain to Assam and E. Pakistan. Rare in the Deccan. Not recorded in the
southern Peninsula, Andamans, or Ceylon. At jheels and marshes, and on
outskirts of habitations.
Extralimital. Burma, Thailand, Malaysia, Indochinese countries,
Sumatra, Java, Borneo.
general habits. Keeps singly or in small parties, stalking about with
a martial gait (whence its English name) on marshland and jheels, parti-
cularly where the water is drying and concentrating the fish life in shallow
puddles. When not actively feeding it spends the time standing hunched up,
or squatting on its shanks head ludicrously drawn in between the shoulders,
and often with the mandibles agape. The birds consort freely with kites and
vultures to feast on animal carcases dumped on the countryside or on
village outskirts. In the last century, when municipal sanitation was more
primitive than now, large numbers of Adjutants haunted the city of Calcutta,
perching boldly on rooftops etc. for the offal and refuse, and rendered
valuable service as scavengers. The flight, attained by running a few steps
for the take-off with noisy flapping of the huge wings, is the acme of grace
and buoyancy once the bird is fairly launched, and its effortless sailing in
circles high up in the heavens in company with vultures and other storks
is a sight that never fails to impress. The precise significance and function
of the pendent sac at the base of the neck is obscure. It communicates with
the nasal cavity and is unconnected with the gullet. Therefore it cannot
receive or store food as is popularly believed.
food. Fishes, frogs, reptiles (Viper a russelliy Uromastix hardwkkii taken
from stomachs), crustaceans, and almost any manageable living thing it
can come by. Also largely carrion.
voice. Besides the characteristic bill-clattering of the family it is
described as emitting a sound like * the lowing of a cow when separated
STORKS
107
from her calf* (Oates), and ‘ a loud grunting croak not unlike the low of a
buffalo \ How these sounds are produced is not known since the bird is
devoid of true voice muscles.
display. Only incompletely recorded. Courtship dance described as
similar to that of the Blacknecked Stork (q.v.), but copulation only observed
in a tree and not following the dance on the ground (Baker).
breeding. Season 9 overall October to January, varying locally with early
or late cessation of the rains. The only specific record for India is an old
one (January 1883) of Baker’s in the Khulna Sunderbans where about
40 or 50 pairs nested for many years on lofty trees in dense forest on the edge
of a vast area of swamp and lake. The breeding grounds par excellence y
however, seem to lie in S. Burma where incredible numbers congregate to
breed on the pinnacles of the limestone rocks and in lofty trees along the
Ataran river in Pegu district. It has been suggested that Indian Adjutants
probably all migrate to this area to nest. (For a full account of the remark-
able colony see Hume & Oates 1890, 2: 260-4.) According to Smythies
1953: 523, no recent information is available about this colony.
Nest) an enormous platform of coarse sticks 1 to 2 metres in diameter
and up to a metre deep, placed far out on a near-horizontal branch of a
lofty tree such as Salmalia. Eggs , 3 or 4 — sometimes 2, but never 5 — white,
usually badly soiled. Broad ovals, more or less equal at both ends; fine-
textured and smooth-surfaced with the inner membrane very dark green.
Average size of 50 eggs 77-3 X 57 • 5 mm. (Baker). Both sexes share in
nest building and incubation; presumably also in feeding the young (not
recorded). Incubation period unknown.
Museum Diagnosis
measurements
Wing
Bill
(from feathers)
Tarsus
Tail
800-820
320-345
320-330
310-335 mm.
(Baker)
colours or bare farts. Iris white or yellowish white (adult); blue-brown
(young). Bill pale yellowish or greenish fleshy, more red near base in breeding
season. Bare skin of head dull reddish brown, turning to brick-red on hindneck and
blackish on forccrown. Pouch and neck yellow; more pink on pouch and fleshy
pink on the end, where it is moreover spotted with black. Legs and feet pale greyish
white to pale horny brown.
* The pouch can be extended to a great size, looking like a child’s pink balloon
with smeary black spots ’ (Baker).
miscellaneous. The popular folk belief, recorded by the Mogul Emperor
Baber in his Memoirs, still persists that if you split the head of an Adjutant
before death you may extract from it the fabulous Zahar-mohra or ‘ snake-
stone \ allegedly a potent antidote against snake- and all other kinds
of poison.
68. Lesser or Haircrested Adjutant. Leptoptilos javanicus (Horsfield)
Ciconia Javanica Horsfield, 1821, Trans. Linn. Soc, London, 13(1): 188 (Java)
Baker, FBI No. 2213, Vol. 6; 329
local names. Chinjdrd, Chandana , Ckandiari , Bang gor 9 Chhota gdrur (Hindi);
M&d&nchur, Madant&k (Bengal); Tokla ntoora ( 1 bald head*, Assam); Bor
108
Cl CONI I FORMES
tokola (Nowgong, Assam) ; Dodal konga , Dodal gatti gadu (Tclugu) ; Meta kokku (Tamil,
Ceylon); Marta (Sinhala) ; Vayalnaiickm (Malayalam).
size. Vulture 4* 5 standing 1 10-120 cm. (3$ to 4 ft.) to top of head.
held characters. A large stork with massive dirty yellowish wedge-
shaped bill. Chiefly glossy metallic black above, white below, with sparse
hair-like feathers on almost naked reddish yellow head and neck. Very
similar to the Adjutant, but somewhat smaller size, less erect carriage,
black instead of slaty upperparts, and absence of neck-pouch diagnostic.
Sexes alike.
In non-breeding plumage lacks the copper spots near the tips of the larger
secondary coverts.
Young (immature). Upper plumage less glossy; head and neck more
feathered.
status, distribution and habitat. Resident, nomadic (especially in the
rains), and locally migratory. Assam, Bengal, East Pakistan, Bihar, Orissa,
Kerala, Ceylon. Recorded also from Andhra, Uttar Pradesh (Lucknow
Division), Delhi, Nepal terai, Kutch and Rajasthan, but uncommon in conti-
nental India. Affects well watered tracts — swamps and pools in forest,
jheels, flooded land, etc.
Extralimital. Burma, Malaysia, Borneo, Java, Sumatra, S. China.
general habits. Usually solitary; not different from the Adjutant’s
except that it is less of a scavenger, does not haunt the neighbourhood of
human habitations, and is much more shy and retiring. At close quarters
the noise made by its wings in flight has been likened to the humming of
telegraph wires in a wind.
food. Fish, frogs, reptiles, crustaceans, and locusts recorded.
voice. 4 Heard making same guttural noise as Ciconia episcopus *
(IngJis, JBNHS 15: 75). No other data.
display. Beyond that * the nuptial dance consists of the same fantastic
steps and gestures as those assumed by the Large Adjutant and that
both sexes take an equal part in the display, nothing recorded.
breeding. Baker, 1935, (4 : 448-9) : 1 Nesting in Ceylon, Travancore,
parts of the Malabar coast, Madras Presidency, E. Bengal, and Assam.*
For some of these areas, e.g. Kerala, only circumstantial evidence is so far
available. Within our limits Assam is probably where the largest number of
nests is to be found. Season , November to January. Nest , a huge stick plat-
form c. 120 to 150 cm. in diameter and 30 to 120 cm. deep depending upon
for how long annually renovated. Placed in lofty trees such as Salmalia
standing in forest, 12 to 30 metres from the ground. Eggs, indistinguishable
from those of the larger Adjutant even in size. Average of 50 eggs 76*4 X
55*3 mm. (Baker). A curious habit, apparently fairly general, is reported
by Baker of the birds jabbing their eggs with their bills when agitated, as
by a collector climbing up to the nest. Share of the sexes in the domestic
chores, as well as incubation period, unrecorded.
Museum Diagnosis
measurements
Wing Bill Tarsus Tail
(from feathers)
<? 9 580-600 260-305 228-268 230-253 mm.
IBISES, SPOONBILL 109
colours of barb parts. Iris white. Bill dull yellow, the tip whitish and base
tinged red in the breeding season. Bare skin of crown greenish brown. Face and
neck yellow, tinged with brick-red in the breeding season. Legs and feet greenish
brown to almost black (Baker).
In a freshly killed non-breeding adult c? noted as follows: Iris slaty grey.
Bald crown greyish biscuit-colour. Bill pinkish biscuit colour. Sides of head and
extreme base of neck pale pink; rest of neck bright turmeric yellow. Legs, feet and
claws slaty black.
Family Threskiornithidae. Ibises, Spoonbill
Comparatively long and bare-legged gregarious waterside or marsh bifds related
to and resembling storks, herons, and egrets, with whom they normally associate.
Plumage in Indian representatives chiefly white, or black, or chestnut with metallic
gloss. Bill long, slender, grooved and decurvcd (ibises), or extremely flattened and
spatulate at tip (spoonbill). Nostril placed at base of a long, narrow groove on
each side of culmen. Face and throat, or whole head and neck, bare in some species.
Neck slender, longish, outstretched in flight. Wings long; tail short. Legs and toes
moderately long; tibiae partly bare; toes webbed at base. Sexes alike or nearly so.
range. N. and S. America, Africa (including Madagascar), the southern
Palaearctic Region, Australia. Some species migratory.
technical diagnosis. Witherby 1939, 3:118; Stresemann, 1927-34 Aves: 806
(under Plegadidae).
classification. Ripley 1961, Synopsis: 22-23.
Key to the Indian forms
A Bill long, curved downward, generally dark coloured, plumage white,
glossy black, or chestnut 1
I Naked skin of head and neck black; plumage nearly all white,
elongated inner secondaries forming slaty grey ornamental plumes
(75 cm. sa 30 in.)
Thrcskiomis melanocephala (adult, breeding)
Similar to above but plumes lacking
Threskiomis melanocephala (adult, non-breeding)
Similar to non-breeding adult but neck and most of head feathered,
primaries tipped with black
Threskiomis melanocephala (juvenal)
Head black, naked, covered with red warts, neck feathered ; plumage
mostly glossy black with white patch on shoulder (68 cm. *27 in.)
Pseudibis papillosa (adult)
Resembling above but lacking red warts, and plumage overall dull
glossless brown Pseudibis papillosa (juvenal)
Smaller (52 cm. = 25 in.). Plumage of head, neck, and underparts
rich chestnut-brown, wings and tail glossed with metallic greenish
purple Plegadisfalcinellus (adult, breeding)
Similar to above but head and neck brown, streaked with white
Plegadisfalcinellus (adult, non-breeding)
Like non-breeding adult but overall plumage dull ashy brown
instead of chestnut Plegadis fdlcinellus (juvenal)!
Page
110
110
110
112
112
114
114
114
110
CICONIIFORMES
Page
B Bill long, straight, spatula-shaped at end, coloured black with terminal
half bright yellow;, plumage including bushy nuchal crest white (stand-
ing c. 60 cm. = 25 in.) PlataUa leucorodia (adult, breeding) 116
Similar to above but lacking nuchal crest
Platalea leucorodia (adult, non-breeding) 116
Like non-breeding adult but primaries tipped with black
Platalea leucorodia (juvenal) 116
Genus Threskiornis G. R. Gray
Threskiomis G. R. Gray, 1842, App. to List Gen. Bds.: 13. Type, by original
designation, Tantalus aethiopicus Latham
Head and neck naked in adult. Bill deeply downcurvcd, stout, blunt. Nostril
linear. Tibia feathered only on upper half; tarsus reticulated. Toes long, webbed
between the bases, bordered by a membrane to the claws. Tail of twelve feathers.
In breeding season inner secondaries longer than primaries, disintegrated, forming
ornamental plumes.
The genus ranges from Africa through India and the SE. Asian countries and
islands to Australia.
69. White Ibis. Threskiornis melanocephala (Latham)
Tantalus melanocephalus Latham, 1 790, Index Orn., 2 : 709 (India)
Baker FBI No. 2203 Vol. 6: 314
Plate 2, fig. 5, facing p. 32
local names. Aiunda , Safed baza> Didhar (Hindi); Kachator (Purnea, Bihar);
Mundukh (Mirshikars, Bihar) ; Kastechara, Soda dochara (Bengal) ; Boga akoki bog
(Assam); Tattu kokka 9 Dahakatti kokka (Sinhala); Thdlaikdththi chondan (Tamil);
Kashanti kokku (Malayalam).
size. Large domestic hen length c. 75 cm. (30 in.).
field characters. A largish snow-white marsh bird with naked black
head and neck, and long black downcurvcd curlew-like bill.
In flight bare blood-red patches on flanks and under wing conspicuous.
Adult (breeding) , with some slaty grey in scapulars and in the elongated
disintegrated inner secondaries. Long ornamental plumes overhanging base
of neck. In non-breeding plumage the slaty grey scapulars, ornamental
secondaries and neck plumes are replaced by ordinary feathers. Sexes
alike.
Young (immature) has only face and round the eye bare; rest of head
and neck feathered. In newly fledged (flying) juvenile, head and hind neck
well clothed with black or slaty down. Front of neck covered with short
white disintegrated feathers. Bare skin under wing black, not blood-red
as in adult.
For downy chick see Museum Diagnosis.
status, distribution and habitat. Resident, nomadic (and/or locally
migratory), depending on water conditions. All India, both Pakistan*,
Nepal terai, Ceylon. Plains and plateau country.
Affects rivers, jheels, marshes, inundated ploughed land and fallows;
occasionally tidal mudflats and brackish lagoons,
IBISES
in
ExtralimitaL Burma, sporadically to China and Japan.
general habits. Gregarious. Normally parties and moderate to large
flocks, often associated with storks, spoonbills, and such other marsh-frequent-
ing birds. Saunters actively on squelchy mud or in shallow water probing
with partly open mandibles into the bottom ooze, often with head almost
completely submerged. Morsels of food are forceped out and swallowed with
an upward jerk of the bill. Flight strong and direct attained by steady rapid
wing-strokes punctuated by short glides, the head and neck outstretched,
either in V-formation or in evenly-spaced single file. Roosts and nests in
trees.
food. Almost entirely animal — fish, frogs, molluscs, insects, worms,
etc. — but some vegetable matter (algae ?) also taken. Stomachs of small
downy nestlings contained pulpy olive-brown and green vegetable matter,
and elytra of tiny blackish beetles, r. 5 mm. long (SA).
voice. Normally silent. In the breeding season * a remarkably loud
booming call ’ (Doig) ; not confirmed by other observers. In breeding
colony ‘ a series of peculiar grunts, not loud but vibrant likened to the
mumble of many people talking together (Bates). Subdued nasal grunts by
adults on the nest tree (SA).
breeding. Colonially, in association with storks, herons, cormorants,
and other marsh birds, with a tendency to segregation into discrete
mohallas.
Season, in N. India June/July to October, varying with early or late
monsoon and filling of tanks and jheels; in S. India and Ceylon November
to February /March. Nest, a smallish platform of sticks c. 25 to 30 cm. across,
usually unlined, built in moderate-sized trees ( Acacia , Prosopis, Barringtonia,
etc.) standing in or near water, or on the tops of partially submerged shrubs
{ZUyphm, Capparis horrida , etc.) ; sometimes on the outskirts of a village.
Eggs , 2 to 4, smooth-surfaced long ovals, chalky white with a faint bluish
tinge. Immaculate or sparingly marked with small spots and blotches of
light or dark brown, more densely at the broad end. Average size of 150 eggs
63*5 X 43*1 mm. (Baker). Both sexes take part in nesl-building and all
the domestic chores. Incubation period estimated at 23-25 days (uncon-
firmed). In the heat of the day, while incubating or standing about on the
nest tree, the bill is partly open, the throat pulsating incessantly. Nest-
feeding by regurgitation, the nestling wrestling with the parent’s bill to
receive food directly from gullet. Not picked up from nest floor as in storks.
Nestlings commonly predated on by Pallas’s and Spotted eagles {Haliaeelus
leucoryphus and Aquila clanga) and other raptors. On onslaught by eagle the
parents fluff out plumage menacingly, erect rump and under tail-covcrts,
lower head and bill and open out wings, biting the neighbouring twigs in
rage and lunging out at the marauder viciously but usually ineffectively.
The eggs and hatchlings (as of other birds in heronries) suffer heavy depreda-
tion from House Crows ( Corvus splendens), which habitually infest such
places.
Museum Diagnosis. Chick (in down) snow-white with forehead, cmwn (to below
ear coverts), and nape, velvety black. Chin, ventral side of neck, down centre of
abdomen, and underside of wings naked or almost naked, the skin pale vinous
pink. Egg tooth persists at tip of short waxy bill till third or fourth day.
112
Cl CONI I FORMES
MEASUREMENTS
«
Wing
Bill
(from feathers)
Tarsus
Tail
c? 9
343-370
139-170
r. 99-115
133-145 mm.
(Baker)
[A freshly killed ad. <? (Gujarat) measured Wing 381; bill (from skull) 185;
tarsus 119; tail 129 mm. (SA)j
colours of bare parts. Iris red-brown or red. Bill black. Naked skin of head
and neck bluish black. Bare skin of flanks and under wing blood-red. Legs and feet
glossy black.
Genus Pseudibis Hodgson
Pseudibis Hodgson, 1844, in Gray's Zool. Misc.: 86. Type, by monotypy,
Ibis papillosa Temminck
Only the head and nape naked in adults contra Threskiomis which has also the
neck bare. Bill slenderer, legs and feet shorter than in Threskiomis . Plumage princi-
pally black. Inner secondaries of normal shape in breeding season (not lengthened or
disintegrated), and no long ornamental plumes at base of neck.
70. Indian Black Ibis. Pseudibis papillosa papillosa (Temminck)
Ibis papillosa Temminck, 1824, PL Col., livr. 51, pi. 304 (India)
Baker, FBI No. 2204, Vol. 6: 316
Plate 5, fig. 6, facing p. 96
local names. Baza , Kdld baza, Karan kill (Hindi); Kalo dochara (Bengal);
Kdla akohi bbg (Assam); Nella kdnkdndm (Telugu).
size. Domestic hen White Ibis — . Length c. 68 cm. (27 in.).
field characters. A distinctive glossy black marsh bird with slender
downcurved curlew-like bill, a small but conspicuous white patch near
shoulder of wing, and brick-red legs. A triangular patch of brilliant red warts
covering top of naked black head. Sexes alike.
x c. i
Young (immature). Overall dull glossless brown including feathered
crown, head, and throat.
status, distribution and habitat. Resident. West Pakistan (Sind),
Gujarat, Rajasthan, and throughout the Gangetic Plain and peninsular
India south to Mysore. Sparingly in Nepal (terai and dun), Bengal* and
pl ah: i)
1 Pelfcanus uTKhTotahts . Rosy Pelican i2(K 2 Ciumia r. ./< «»•»■„. Wlm. Sun k ■(>> 8 (.ifoniti niora. Black
Stork (t>. r >). 4 Phocntcoplei u\ jowi/i, Flamingo (7.V, . '> P/nn m, <>•! n-i' 'niuo). L*‘ssn l’laiuint»o (7'L.
8 Gvfmrfns b. aweu\ t Bearded Vultuie (188). 7 (iyps hvnaluv’nm. llmulaxan (oillon 181'. 8 Neophion
p. gmginianus. Scavenger Vulture ( 187). 8 /Vm rm/«//n, (lumnum Peafowl >11 .
IBISES 113
Assam. Not recorded from the West Coast, Kerala, Ceylon, or the Andamans.
Affects dry plains and cultivated country.
ExtralimitaL Recorded as having occurred in Arakan, though the race
normally found in Burma, Thailand, and the Indochinese countries is
davisoni in which the red warty patch on head is obsolete.
general habits. Keeps in small parties of 3 or 4 or flocks of 8 to 10
individuals; sometimes larger. Less dependent on water than White Ibis,
preferring to forage on the drier margins of jheels, river banks, and in
stubble fields; only occasionally wading into puddles. Flight and behaviour
similar to that of White Ibis.
food. Among the stomach contents of specimens, Mason & Lefroy
(1912) identified frogs, small fish, earthworms, beetles and other insects
(including Brachytrypes achatinus adults, and larvae of Cybister confusus,
Agrotis sp., and Hydrophilus sp.). In addition, lizards, small snakes, scorpions,
crustaceans, and a quantity of grain have also been recorded.
voice. On the whole silent. A loud nasal screaming cry of two or three
notes reminiscent of the Brahminy Duck ( Tadorna ferruginea ), uttered chiefly
on the wing (SA).
breeding. Not in mixed heronries. Usually individual nests by them-
selves; rarely small colonies of 3 to 5 pairs in same tree. Season , variable:
between March and October in N. India; later in Gujarat, Deccan, and the
south. Nest> a large stick platform c . 35 to 60 cm. in diameter, 10 to 15 cm.
deep, loosely and untidily lined with straw. Built in a large tree such as
banyan or peepul, or among the bases of leaf stalks in a palmyra (. Borasstts )
palm, 6 to 12 metres up. Old nests of kites and vultures frequently utilized.
Fresh material added to the nests even when incubation well advanced.
Eggs , 2 to 4, pale bluish green, some spotless but the majority sparsely
flecked and blotched with pale reddish; broad to moderately long ovals with
a smooth surface. Average size of 59 eggs 63*0 x 43-8 mm. (Baker). Both
sexes incubate. Period of incubation, and other details, unrecorded.
Museum Diagnosis
MEASUREMENTS
Wing Bill Tarsus Tail
(from feathers)
<?9 365-400 138-158 r. 75-85 165-194 mm.
(Baker)
colours of bare parts. Iris brownish yellow to bright orange-red. Bill
plumbeous green to dull blackish green. Naked skin of head black; crown and nape
bright coral-red or brick-red. Legs and feet brick-red.
Genus Plegadis Kaup
Plegadis Kaup, 1829, Skizz. Entw.-Gesch. : 82. Type, by monotypy,
Tantalus Falcinellus Linnaeus
Head feathered except on lores and a small area in front of eyes. Tarsi long, scutelia-
ted in front, reticulated behind. Toes long and slender; daw of middle toe pectinated.
Bill long, curved, more slender even than in Pseud ibis.
114
CICONIIFORMES
71. Glossy Ibis* Plegadis falcinellus falcinellus (Linnaeus)
Tantalus Falcinellus Linnaeus, 1766, Syst. Nat., ed. 12,; 241 (Austria and Italy)
Baker, FBI No. 2206, Vol. 6: 3 IB
Plate 5, fig. 7, facing p. 96
local names. Kawari Kowar , Chhota buza (Hindi) ; Kachia iota (Bengal) ; That
kdnkdmm (Telugu); Kdrdppu kottan (Tamil, Ceylon); Ratu doe tuduwa (Sinhala).
size. Domestic hen Black Ibis — . Length c. 52 cm. (25 in.).
field characters. A small blackish ibis with feathered head and
characteristic slender downcurved bill.
Adult (breeding). Above , rich dark chestnut or maroon-brown, heavily
glossed with green and purple on head, neck, chin, throat, lower back, and
rump. Tail black glossed with green and purple. Below> chestnut. Under
tail-coverts and axillaries deep purple. Sexes alike.
Adult (non-breeding). Head and neck brown, streaked with white.
Scapulars and innermost wing-coverts glossy green-blue.
Young (immature). Like adult in winter, but dull (unglossed) ashy
brown instead of chestnut.
Plegadis falcinellus
Nestling, clothed in black down. Bill rose-coloured, with a black band
at middle and tip which disappear with fledging of chick (Heinroth).
status, distribution and habitat. Partly resident and nomadic, partly
winter visitor. West Pakistan (Sind), Uttar Pradesh, Nepal (plains and
terai), Gangctic Plain, Madhya Pradesh, Deccan, Rajasthan, Kutch,
Gujarat, Orissa, W, Bengal, E, Pakistan (Sylhet, Faridpur), Assam, Mani-
pur. Very rare in Ceylon (vagrant ?). Frequents large jheels, marshes, and
river banks.
IBISES
115
Extralimital. S. Europe, the Mediterranean and Middle East countries,
Baluchistan, Afghanistan, Turkestan, Burma, Also Africa, Madagascar,
and parts of southern North America, The race peregrinus inhabits the
Philippines and Indonesia to Australia.
migration. A juvenile ringed in the Volga Delta, USSR, c. 45°55'
N., 47°45'E. (9,vii.I931) was recovered at Deolali, Nasik dist., c .
20°N., 74°E. (14.iii.1934). Another juvenile ringed in the same locality,
12.vii.1941, recovered in Malda district, West Bengal, c . 25°N., 88 °
30'E. (c. 15.iv.1942). These constitute our first positive proof that the
resident population is augmented in winter by northern migrants.
general habits. Gregarious; usually tame and confiding. Small parties
or flocks of up to 40 or 50. Feeds like White Ibis on marshland or in shallow
water, sometimes wading in up to the belly and submerging head com-
pletely. Flight — a series of rapid wing-beats followed by a glide — and
other habits similar to White and Black Ibises (qq.v.). Flocks fly in V-
formation or in diagonal wavy ribbons. Perches and roosts on trees.
food. Molluscs, crustaceans, worms and insects. Possibly also tadpoles
and small frogs as recorded elsewhere.
voice. Normally silent. In breeding season adults utter a peculiar
bleating reminiscent of a sheep (Heinroth). Another call described as
1 a decidedly corvine prolonged guttural croak * (Lilford).
breeding. Colonial; in mixed heronries. Sporadic. Recorded in Sind,
Oudh, Orissa, Assam, Manipur. Season , mainly May to J uly. Nest smallish,
of sticks, c . 30 cm. across and r. 12 cm. deep, on moderate-sized trees such as
k&ndi (j Prosopis spicigera) standing in clumps in or near water. Eggs, 2 or 3
(in Europe up to 5), deep unspotted blue-green, smooth-textured long
ovals, more or less pointed at both ends, somewhat more at the small end.
Average size of 100 eggs 52*18 x 36*9 mm. (Baker). Both sexes share
incubation. Period 21 days (Heinroth). No details recorded in India; for
Europe see Witherby 1939, 3: 123.
Museum Diagnosis
MEASUREMENTS
Wing Bill Tarsus Tail
(from feathers)
c?9 248-298 99-144 c. 85-100 94-106 mm. (Baker)
Female smaller than male: for European birds Wing 290-306; 9 9 264-277
mm. Weight c . 750 gm. (Heinroth).
colours of bare parts. Iris grey, brown, or mottled grey and brown. Bill
dark livid, olive-grey or plumbeous brown ; (‘ bare skin at base lead-blue * —
Ticehurst). Naked skin of face and round eye livid. Legs and feet bronze-brown,
bluish (* greenish * — Ticehurst) above ‘ knee \
miscellaneous. Longevity (from ringing data) c . 20 years (Ring, 1962,
33: 148).
Genus Platalea Linnaeus
Platalea Linnaeus, 1758, Syst. Nat., ed. 10, 1:139. Type, by subsequent designation,
Platalea leueorodia Linnaeus
Both mandibles greatly flattened, becoming broader and spoon-shaped at the
tip, where they are slightly decurved. Face and throat naked. Legs long; tibia
feathered; tarsus reticulated in front and behind. Toes long, bordered by amejnbrane,
webbed at base.
116 G I CONII FORMES
72. Spoonbill. Platalea leucorodia major Temxninck & Schlcgel
Platalea major Temminck & Schlcgel, 1849, in Siebold, Fauna Jap., Aves: 119,
pi. 73 (Japan)
Baker FBI No. 2202, Vol. 6: 311
Plate 5, fig. 8, facing p. 96
local names. Chamdch baza , Chamckd (Hindi); Ckinta, Khunte bak (Bengal);
Khcmtiya bog (Assam) ; Genta muku konga (Telugu) ; Chappai chondan (Tamil, Ceylon) ;
Handi alawd (Sinhala).
size. Domestic duck + ; standing c. 60 cm. (24 in.) to top of head.
field characters. A long-legged, long-necked, snow-white marsh bird
with a distinctive long, flat, black-and-yellow spatula-shaped bilk A
cinnamon-yellow patch at base of forencck, naked yellow throat, and long,
bare, black legs. Sexes alike. In breeding season with a long white bushy
nuchal crest, erected in display or to express anger or other emotions.
K r. i
Young (immature), has the primary wing-coverts tipped with black.
All primaries black-shafted, the first three largely blotched and mottled
with black, 4th and 5th with black tips.
Nestling, covered with white down. Bill at hatching of normal shape,
short, pink, and fleshy, gradually thickening and becoming bulbous at tip
with slight decurvation. Assumes characteristic ‘ spoon * shape when chick
full-fledged.
status, distribution and habitat. Partly resident and nomadic, partly
winter visitor. West Pakistan (Baluchistan, Sind), East Pakistan, practically
all India, Nepal (terai), and Ceylon. Plains and plateau country. Affects
marshes, jheels, rivers; occasionally tidal creeks and mangrove swamps.
ExtralimitaL ‘ Central Asia from China, southern Transbaikalia, Ussuri-
iand and Japan south to Syria, Egypt, India, and Formosa. Migratory
in northern part of its range’ (Peters).
migration. From older observations of vast flocks arriving in Uttar
Pradesh in October (Reid 1887, SF 10: 77), and of flocks of many thousand
birds each on the Chenab and Sutlej rivers near Multan in December
including one estimated to contain ten thousand individuals (Hume 1873,
SF 1 : 106), the Spoonbill was well known to be, in part, an abundant
winter migrant from extralimital areas. Direct evidence has since been
provided by the recovery in India of four Spoonbills ringed as nestlings
in the Caspian region of USSR (between c. 40° and 50°N. and 45° and 55 °E.)
in Jime-July, as follows: Kolhapur district, Maharashtra, (c. 1 7°N.,
75°E.) ; Monghyr district, Bihar {c. 25°N., 86°E.) ; Tonk, Rajasthan
(c. 26 P N., 76°E.) ; Mandsaur district, Madhya Pradesh (c. 24°N.,
SPOONBILL
117
75°E.), Three of these were recovered between October and January; one
curiously enough in July, almost exactly two years after ringing and more-
over at the time when our local population here should be breeding. A fifth
juvenile ringed near Yeysk, Sea of Azov (46°4rN., 38°15 / E.) on 10.vi.1961
was recovered — again almost exactly two years later, in June 1963 —
near Hyderabad in W. Pakistan (25°35'N., 68°25'E.).
general habits. Gregarious and sociable. Keeps in small parties and
flocks of up to fifty or more, either by themselves or in association with
egrets, ibises, and other marsh birds. Feeds more actively in mornings
and evenings than during daytime, and is partly nocturnal. Wades into
the shallows on the edge of a jheel or swamp and with outstretched obliquely
poised, partly open bill sweeps from side to side in the water with a semi-
circular scything action, raking the bottom ooze with the tip of the lower
mandible as it moves forward. Where food is plentiful a compact, eager,
jostling herd will advance almost at a run, working methodically back and
forth over a particularly rewarding patch. Bouts of intense feeding activity
alternate with pauses of quiescence when the entire herd will stand about
listlessly with no apparent interest in food. Flight seemingly rather slow,
with deliberate wing flaps — neck and legs extended. Flocks fly in diagonal
wavy ribbons, each bird evenly spaced behind and to one side of the one in
front.
food. Small fish, tadpoles, frogs, molluscs, crustaceans, aquatic insects.
Also some vegetable matter.
voice. Normally very silent; in breeding colony occasional short low
grunts and bill-clattering.
breeding. Colonial. Usually in mixed heronries — sometimes very
large ones, e.g. Keoladeo in Bharatpur (Rajasthan) — but with a tendency
to segregation. Season , variable, depending on early or late monsoon and
filling of tanks and jheels; normally July to October in N. India, November
to January in S. India, December to April in Ceylon. Nest , a variable plat-
form of sticks, sometimes a flimsy pad and at others a fairly substantial
structure, lined in varying degree with grass or leaves. Built in clumps of
moderate-sized trees (Acacia arabica , Prosopis spicigera, Barringtonia racemosa ,
etc.) standing partially submerged in a jheel. Rarely in reed-beds. Often many
nests in the same tree almost touching one another. Eggs , 3 or 4, rarely 5,
long ovals slightly pointed at one end, smooth surfaced. Chalky white in
colour, sparsely marked with small blotches and spots of light to dark
brown, sometimes with faint secondary markings of pale grey-brown or
pinkish grey. Average size of 40 eggs 65*6 X 44-2 min. (Baker). Both
sexes take part in nest-building and incubation. Incubation period un-
recorded in India; estimated as about 21 days.
Museum Diagnosis
MEASUREMENTS
Wing
Bill
(from feathers)
Tarsus
Tail
(? 9 350-395
180-228
130-165
108-122 mm.
(Baker)
Colours of bare parts. Iris dark brown to brownish crimson. Bill, upper
mandible black; terminal half of * spoon * bright yellow; lower mandible slaty grey.
118
Cl CON II FORMES
Bare skin of face and throat canary or sulphur yellow, sometimes blotched with
black on and above lores. Legs and feet black.
note. The European breeding (nominate) race i$ only slightly smaller with a
smaller bill, but the measurements often overlap. Such examples, and borderline
cases, are impossible to assign racially with confidence.
Family Phoenicopteridae: Flamingos
Large, excessively long-legged marsh birds with very long slender necks and
peculiar thick lamellate bills sharply down curved or 4 broken * in the middle.
Plumage largely pinkish white and crimson, with black remiges or wing-quills.
Tibia bare; toes short and webbed. Sexes alike or nearly so.
anatomical details in Witherby 1939, 3: 162-3; Baker 1929, FBI 6: 372; Strese-
mann 1927-34, Aves: 804-5.
REFERENCES
Ali, Sdlim (1945): 4 More about the Flamingo, Phoenicopterus ruber roseus (Pallas),
in Hutch.* J. Bombay nat . Hist. Soc 45: 586-93.
Allen, Robert P. (1956): The Flamingos: Their Life History and Survival . National
Audubon Society’s Research Report No. 5.
Brown, Leslie (1959): The Mystery of the Flamingos (Country Life, London).
Gallet, Etienne (1950): The Flamingos of the Camargue (Basil Blackwell, Oxford).
Jenkin, Penelope M. (1957): 4 The Filter-feeding and Food of Flamingos (Phocni-
copteri).’ Phil. Trans. Royal Soc. London , Series B. Biological Sciences No. 674,
Vol. 240, pp. 401-93.
McCann, Charles (1939): 4 The Flamingo [Phoenicopterus ruber antiquorum Temminck) .*
J . Bombay nat . Hist . Soc., 41 : 12-38.
Key to the Indian forms
larger (standing c. 140 cm. -- 41 ft.). Plumage rosy white with scarlet
and black wings, upper mandible overlapping lower, throat naked
Phoenicopterus roseus
Smaller (standing c. 90-105 cm. = 3-3 J ft.). Plumage deeper rose
pink, upper mandible not overlapping lower, throat feathered
Phoeniconaias minor
Genus Phoenicopterus Linnaeus
Phoenicopterus Linnaeus, 1758, Syst. Nat., ed. 10, 1 : 139. Type, by monotypy,
Phoenicopterus ruber Linnaeus
Upper mandible overlapping lower; throat naked. See also under Family.
73. Flamingo. Phoenicopterus roseus Pallas
Phoenicopterus roseus Pallas, 1811, Zoogr. Russo- Asiat., 2: 207
(Mouth of Volga river, south Russia)
Baker, FBI No. 2241, Vol. 6: 373
Plate 6, fig. 4, facing p, 112
local names. Bog kdns , Raj harts (Hindi); Kanmunthi, Kdnthuti (Bengal); Chdraj
bdggo (Mirshikars, Bihar) ; Pu konga , Samudrdpu chiluka (Telugu) ; Pun ndrdi , Urian
(Tamil) ; Siyak karaya (Sinhala); Lakka, Ldkke jam (Sind); Hdnj pdkkhi (Kutch).
size. Vulture + ; standing c . 140 cm. (4£ ft.) to top of head.
field characters, A tall, long-legged, long-neeked, stork-like marsh
bird; rosy white with bright scarlet-and-black wings and massive pink bill
FLAMINGOS
119
sharply downcurvejj (‘ broken *) from about half its length. Sexes alike,
but female somewhat smaller and paler.
Bills of flamingo chicks showing progressive growth to
adult, X c. i (from a photograph of an exhibit of actual
specimens arranged by G. McCann)
In flight the large size, long slender outstretched legs and neck, and black-
and-scarlet underwing diagnostic.
Young (immature). Overall greyish brown, with brownish bill and dark
slaty brown legs. Older birds have more greyish body with dark brown head
and bill. Under wing-coverts and axiilaries pale pink.
Chick (newly hatched to 2 or 3 days old). Nidifugous; covered with
French grey powder-puff down, with soft pale pink bill and short salmon
or orange-red legs; both changing to bluish grey in a few days. Very pre-
cocious and lively, slithering down from nest mound on alarm and scuttling
off unsteadily, "balancing itself with stumpy wings, frequently stumbling
and rolling over.
status, distribution and habitat. Resident, nomadic, and locally
migratory. Evidently also cxtralimital migrant in part. Not uncommon,
but capricious and sporadic, in W. Pakistan (Sind) and throughout the
Indian Union (rare in Bengal and Assam), East Pakistan (rare), and Ceylon.
Not recorded from Nepal. Affects large jheels, brackish lakes and lagoons,
salt pans, estuaries, and tidal mudflats on the sea coast.
ExtralimitaL S. France, S. Spain, parts of N. and E. Africa, the Middle
East and Caspian region to W. Siberia, south through Afghanistan.
migration. No ring recoveries or other positive proof, but suggestive
circumstantial evidence of partial regular or erratic extraiimital migration.
Thus some plausibility in the speculation (McCann, loc. cit.) that under
stress of hydrographic conditions breeding populations may shuttle between
the major nesting sites in Europe, Africa, and Asia.
general habits. Highly gregarious, normally in small or large flocks
and vast congregations at favourite feeding and nesting places, often number-
ing many hundred thousand. Feeds in shallow water — usually brackish
and even concentrated brine — with head immersed. Sometimes swimming
and e up-ending * like duck in deeper water. The partly open bill is inverted
120
CICONIIFORMES
go that the upper mandible forms a scoop with culmen skimming or scraping
the bottom ooze. The fleshy tongue works back and forth like a piston sucking
in the water and mud, from which minute organisms are strained out by the
lamellae along the edges of the bill. In dense congregations, where individual
feeding space is restricted, the bird dabbles around pivoting on itself, the
bill action describing a shallow circular trough or moat in the mud around
the central * turntable \ Such feeding circles, c. 60-90 cm. in diameter,
almost touching one another, and sometimes many acres in extent, mark
the places where flamingos have been feeding. Flight — with fairly rapid
wing-strokes, neck fully extended in front and legs trailing well behind — in
diagonal wavy ribbons, single file, or in the characteristic V-formation of
geese. Rests usually standing on one leg with the long slender neck coiled
round, and head tucked in feathers of back.
food. Chironomus larvae, small molluscs and crustaceans (e.g. Ariemia
salina ), tiny seeds of lacustrine plants (e.g. Ruppia spp., Scirpus ), and organic
mud. Possibly also small fish on occasion, e.g. Cyprinodon dispar which is
very abundant in the bird’s haunts in the Rann of Kutch.
voice. A single hoarse brassy goose-like honk. A constant babbling
while feeding in company.
breeding. Season , in the Great Rann of Kutch, the only known nesting
ground within our limits, variable, depending on hydrographic conditions,
September /October to March/April. Nest, a truncated conical mound with
shallow pan-like depression at top, from a few centimetres to half a metre
high, of sun-baked mud scraped up from the vicinity when in semi-liquid
condition, and daubed on. Built in hundreds close to one another in a com-
pact, expansive 4 city * covering several acres. Sometimes a merely slightly
raised bed of mud pellets constitutes the nest. Eggs , normally 1 — occa-
sionally 2 — rather like huge eggs of cormorants, from skim-milk to pale
blue in colour overlaid with calcium deposit. Average size of 100 eggs,
measured by Jourdain, 88*8 x 54*5 mm. (Baker). Three eggs from the
Rann of Kutch measured 83 x 50, 83 X 53, 93 X 58 mm. (SA), falling
within the maxima and minima of the above.
Both sexes take part in incubation. Period elsewhere stated as 30 to
32 days. Newly hatched, and small chicks, fed by parent on drops of a
clear liquid from its bill tip, of unknown origin and composition. (For
further accounts of ecology, bionomics etc. consult References under
Family.)
Museum Diagnosis
MEASUREMENTS
Wing Bill Bare tibia Tarsus Tail
(from feathers)
&& 393-444 r. 139-164 c. 220-250 e. 311-327 152-189 mm.
9 9 375-405 c. 120-143 — — —
(Baker)
A Kutch ad. c? (measured in the flesh) Wing 464; bill (from skull) 134; tarsus
324; tail W mm. (SA).
colours of bare parts. Iris lemon -yellow. Bill, facial and gular skin pale pink
to rich strawberry-ice colour, the first with black tip. Legs and feet variable pink,
like bill.
FLAMINGOS
121
Genus Phoeniconai as Gray
Pkoenicoruxias Gray, 1869, Isis: 440. Type, by monotypy, Phoenicoplerus minor Geoffroy
Upper mandible not overlapping lower; throat well feathered.
74. Lesser Flamingo. Phoeniconaias minor (Geoffroy)
Phoenicopterus minor Geoffroy, 1798, Bull. Soc. Phil. Paris, 1 : 98 (East Africa)
Baker, FBI No. 2242, Vol. 6: 375
Plate 6, fig. 5, facing p. 112
local name. Chhota rqjhdns (Hindi).
size. Large duck; standing c . 90-105 cm. (3-3| ft.) to top of head.
field characters. Smaller size, deeper rose-pink plumage, and dark
coloured bill with crimson feathers around its base, distinguish it from
its larger relative. Sexes more or less alike; female somewhat smaller and
paler without crimson on back or breast.
In flight, crimson and black underwing, comparatively thicker neck,
shorter trailing legs, and goose-like flight are leading pointers.
Young (immature). Overall greyish brown as in the larger flamingo
with shorter, darker bill.
Chick . Pale grey natal down replaced by coarser growth in a few days.
Colour of bill and legs at hatching unrecorded; when slightly older, black.
status, distribution and habitat. Status uncertain. Recorded practi-
cally in all months, but so far not found breeding within our limits. Largely
seasonal (?) visitor with erratic local movements. W. Pakistan and NW.
India — Sind, Rajasthan, Gujarat, and the western Garigetic Plain. The
Sambhar Salt Lake (Rajasthan) and the Little Rann (Gujarat) are two of
its strongholds where vast concentrations, tens of thousand strong, occur
irregularly. Stray specimens taken as far south as Bombay (Salim Ali &
Abdulali, JBNHS 40: 649), and Secunderabad, Andhra (Butler, SF 9: 436),
and Chilka Lake, Orissa (January 1967) where reported as casual in winter
but frequent. More restricted to salt and brackish lakes and tidal lagoons
than large flamingo.
migration. No definite data.
general habits. Gregarious; large concentrations of the two species
frequently together. Differs from the large flamingo chiefly in its ecological
preference for heavily saturated brine and its feeding technique consequent
upon the bill structure being specially adapted for filtering microscopic orga-
nisms (see Jenkin, loc. cit.). Usually walks along, or swims, in 30 to 45 cm.
depth of still water swinging head from side to side in a scything motion,
sucking in the algae from the surface layer (Brown, loc. cit.). However, in
shallow brine only a few centimetres deep, e.g. in salt pans and in the Little
Rann of Kutch, the bird feeds in the same way as its larger relative, partly
or entirely submerging the head and inverting the bill. The difference
in the size of food for which the bills arc respectively adapted doubtless
enables the two species to co-exist side by side without competing.
food. Almost exclusively algae and diatoms. Occasionally insect larvae
and copepods. Regularly drinks fresh water.
breeding. Not yet recorded in India, but good circumstantial evidence
from Little Rann of Kutch where large numbers of quite small immature
120
CICONIIFORMES
so that the upper mandible forms a scoop with culmcn skimming or scraping
the bottom ooze. The fleshy tongue works back and forth like a piston sucking
in the water and mud, from which minute organisms are strained out by the
lamellae along the edges of the bill. In dense congregations, where individual
feeding space is restricted, the bird dabbles around pivoting on itself, the
bill action describing a shallow circular trough or moat in the mud around
the central ‘ turntable \ Such feeding circles, c. 60-90 cm. in diameter,
almost touching one another, and sometimes many acres in extent, mark
the places where flamingos have been feeding. Flight — with fairly rapid
wing-strokes, neck fully extended in front and legs trailing well behind — in
diagonal wavy ribbons, single file, or in the characteristic V-formation of
geese. Rests usually standing on one leg with the long slender neck coiled
round, and head tucked in feathers of back.
food. Chironomus larvae, small molluscs and crustaceans (e.g. Artemia
salina)) tiny seeds of lacustrine plants (e.g. Ruppia spp., Scirpus ), and organic
mud. Possibly also small fish on occasion, e.g. Cyprinodon dispar which is
very abundant in the bird’s haunts in the Rann of Kutch.
voice. A single hoarse brassy goose-like honk. A constant babbling
while feeding in company.
breeding. Season , in the Great Rann of Kutch, the only known nesting
ground within our limits, variable, depending on hydrographic conditions,
September /October to March /April. Nest, a truncated conical mound with
shallow pan-like depression at top, from a few centimetres to half a metre
high, of sun-baked mud scraped up from the vicinity when in semi-liquid
condition, and daubed on. Built in hundreds close to one another in a com-
pact, expansive * city ’ covering several acres. Sometimes a merely slightly
raised bed of mud pellets constitutes the nest. Eggs> normally 1 — occa-
sionally 2 — rather like huge eggs of cormorants, from skim-milk to pale
blue in colour overlaid with calcium deposit. Average size of 100 eggs,
measured by Jourdain, 88*8 x 54*5 mm. (Baker). Three eggs from the
Rann of Kutch measured 83 x 50, 83 x 53, 93 X 58 mm. (SA), falling
within the maxima and minima of the above.
Both sexes take part in incubation. Period elsewhere stated as 30 to
32 days. Newly hatched, and small chicks, fed by parent on drops of a
clear liquid from its bill tip, of unknown origin and composition. (For
further accounts of ecology, bionomics etc. consult References under
Family.)
Museum Diagnosis
MEASUREMENTS
Wing Bill Bare tibia Tarsus Tail
(from feathers)
dV 393-444 r. 139-164 c. 220-250 c. 311-327 152-189 mm.
9 <? 375-405 c. 120-143 — — —
(Baker)
A Kutch ad. c? (measured in the flesh) Wing 464; bill (from skull) 134; tarsus
324; tail 167 mm. (SA).
colours of bare farts. Iris lemon-yellow. Bill, facial and gular skin pale pink
to rich strawberry-ice colour, the first with black tip. Legs and feet variable pink,
like bill*
FLAMINGOS
121
Genus Phoenigon aias Gray
Phoenicomias Gray, 1869, Isis: 440. Type, by monotypy, Phoenicopterus minor Geoffrey
Upper mandible not overlapping lower; throat well feathered.
74, Lesser Flamingo. Phoeniconaias minor (Geoffroy)
Phoenicopterus minor Geoffroy, 1798, Bull. Soc. Phil. Paris, 1 : 98 (East Africa)
Baker, FBI No. 2242, Vol. 6: 375
Plate 6, fig. 5, facing p. 112
local name. Chhota rajhans (Hindi).
size. Large duck; standing c . 90-105 cm. (3-3 \ ft.) to top of head.
field characters. Smaller size, deeper rose-pink plumage, and dark
coloured bill with crimson feathers around its base, distinguish it from
its larger relative. Sexes more or less alike; female somewhat smaller and
paler without crimson on back or breast.
In flight, crimson and black underwing, comparatively thicker neck,
shorter trailing legs, and goose-like flight are leading pointers.
Young (immature). Overall greyish brown as in the larger flamingo
with shorter, darker bill.
Chick . Pale grey natal down replaced by coarser growth in a few days.
Colour of bill and legs at hatching unrecorded; when slightly older, black.
status, distribution and habitat. Status uncertain. Recorded practi-
cally in all months, but so far not found breeding within our limits. Largely
seasonal (?) visitor with erratic local movements. W. Pakistan and NW.
India — Sind, Rajasthan, Gujarat, and the western Gangetic Plain. The
Sambhar Salt Lake (Rajasthan) and the Little Rann (Gujarat) are two of
its strongholds where vast concentrations, tens of thousand strong, occur
irregularly. Stray specimens taken as far south as Bombay (Salim Ali &
Abdulali, JBNHS 40: 649), and Secunderabad, Andhra (Butler, SF 9: 436),
and Chilka Lake, Orissa (January 1967) where reported as casual in winter
but frequent. More restricted to salt and brackish lakes and tidal lagoons
than large flamingo.
migration. No definite data.
general habits. Gregarious; large concentrations of the two species
frequently together. Differs from the large flamingo chiefly in its ecological
preference for heavily saturated brine and its feeding technique consequent
upon the bill structure being specially adapted for filtering microscopic orga-
nisms (see Jenkin, loc. cit.). Usually walks along, or swims, in 30 to 45 cm.
depth of still water swinging head from side to side in a scything motion,
sucking in the algae from the surface layer (Brown, loc. cit.). However, in
shallow brine only a few centimetres deep, e.g. in salt pans and in the Little
Rann of Kutch, die bird feeds in the same way as its larger relative, partly
or entirely submerging the head and inverting the bill. The difference
in the size of food for which the bills are respectively adapted doubtless
enables the two species to co-exist side by side without competing.
ROOD. Almost exclusively algae and diatoms. Occasionally insect larvae
and copepods. Regularly drinks fresh water.
breeding. Not yet recorded in India, but good circumstantial evidence
from Little Rann of Kutch where large numbers of quite small immature
122
ANSER I FORMES
birds in brown plumage with black legs and bill in company with adults
observed (SA) and frequently reported. Breeds abundantly on the soda
lakes of N. Tanganyika (Africa), building mud nests similar to the large
flamingo's.
Museum Diagnosis
MEASUREMENTS
Wing Bill Tarsus Tail
(from feathers)
c?(? 329-354 100-118 c. 190-242 c. 120-142 mm.
9 9 310-325 c . 93-104 — —
(Baker)
colours op bare parts. Iris red. Bill dark lake-red with black tip. Legs and feet
red.
Order Anseriformes
Family Anatidae: Ducks, Geese, Swans
A group of large, conspicuous water birds perhaps more generally known and
recognized than any other, even by persons whose interest in birds does not extend
beyond hunting them or purely as items on
the menu. By virtue of the regularity of
their seasonal appearances and disappear-
ances, their spectacular flights, and their
abundance and widespread occurrence in
winter on all types of inland waters through-
out the country, they perhaps also provide
the most tangible example to the popular
mind of the phenomenon of bird migration.
size. Very diverse, from considerably
larger than a Vulture (swan) to about .that
of a Pigeon (Cotton Teal). Colour from
wholly white (swan) to combinations of
grey, brown, black, and green with metallic
reflections in many attractive patterns. Most
ducks with conspicuous metallic 1 speculum *
or white patch on wing. Bill typically
broad, flat, rounded at tip, and with a
comb-like fringe or lamellae for straining
out food particles from water in which they
chiefly feed. Wings in most species rather
narrow and pointed, adapted for swift and
long-ranging flight. Tail short. Legs short;
feet webbed. The majority of our species
are migratory, originating from the Palae-
arctic Region (see map, p. xxxvii).
Tarsus of Greylag Goose (A) and
Mallard (B) to illustrate reticulated
tarsus of swans and geese and partially
scutcllatcd tarsus of ducks
food. Animal and/or vegetable matter.
Obtained in water, marshes, or meadows
and fields by dabbling, diving, or grazing*
breeding. On ground, in holes in
ground, or hollows in tree-trunks, etc. Young nidifugous, down-covered.
DUCKS, GEESE, SWANS 123
anatomical details, Witherby 1939, 3: 167; Stresemann 1927-34, Aves;
794-97; Baker 1929, FBI 6: 377-8.
classification and taxonomy. Delacour, J. and Mayr. E. 1945, * The Family
Anatidae.’ Wilson Bulletin , 57; 3-55; Ripley, S. D. 1961, A Synopsis of the Birds of
India and Pakistani pp. 25-40; Peters, J. L. 1931, Check-list of Birds of the World, 1 ; 143-89.
general biolooy: Delacour, J. 1964, The Waterfowl of the World y Vol. 4.
REFERENCES
Alph&aky, Sergius (1905): The Geese of Europe and Asia (Rowland Ward Ltd,
London) ix 4- 195 pp.
Baker, E. C. Stuart (1908): Indian Ducks and their Allies (Bombay Natural History
Society) xi 4- 292 pp.
Delacour, Jean (1954-64) : The Waterfowl of the World, 4 vols. (Country Life, London).
Hochbaum, H. Albert (1955): Travels and Traditions of Waterfowl (University of
Minnesota Press, USA).
Phillips, John C. (1922-6): A Natural History of the Ducks, 4 vols. (Boston, USA).
Scott, Peter (1957) : A Coloured Key to the Wildfowl of the World (The Wildfowl Trust,
Slimbridge, England).
Key to the Genera
Page
A Hind toe not lobed 1
B Hind toe very narrowly lobed 2
C Hind toe broadly lobed 3
1 Neck as long as, or longer than, body Cygnus 134
Neck not as long as body a
a Plumage on sides of neck longitudinally furrowed, tail white or
tipped with white Anser 125
Plumage on sides of neck unfurrowed, tail not tipped with
white I
I Distance from tip of bill to gape slightly more than one-half
length of tarsus Branta 124
Distance from tip of bill to gape as long as or longer than tarsus
a 1
a 1 Underparts white Sarkidiomis 192
Underparts not white b 1
b 1 Upperparts shiny blue-green Cairina 193
Upperparts brown Rhodonessa 174
2 Bill short and goose-like b
Bill rather flat and broad c
b Head crested, primaries edged with silvery grey Aix 188
Head not crested, primaries not edged with silvery grey
Nettapus 190
C Lower portion of tarsus in front reticulated, primaries equal to
secondaries in length Dendrocygna 138
Lower portion of tarsus in front scutellated, primaries considerably
longer than secondaries II
II Entire outer web of inner secondaries chestnut Tadorna 141
Outer web of inner secondaries not chestnut* Anas 145
•not to be confused with the tips of secondary covet t> whicii ate chest ,iut in several
species of Anas.
124
ANSERIFORMES
Bill long and, thin with saw-likc teeth on edges of both mandibles. .
Mergus
Bill not like above d
d Tail feathers narrow and very stiff Oxyura
Tail feathers normal . . .". Ill
III Under wing-coverts dark ..a*
Under wing-coverts white or whitish a 3
a* Nostrils situated on culmen about one-third of the distance
from base to tip Clmgula
Nostrils situated on culmen about two-thirds of the distance
from base to tip Bucephala
a 8 Width of culmen becoming narrower towards tip, lamellae
coarse and prominent Netta
Width of culmen becoming broader towards tip, lamellae
fine and not prominent Aythya
Page
200
208
196
198
177
179
Genus Brant a Scopoli
Branta Scopoli, 1769, Annus I, Hist. Nat.: 67. Type, by subsequent designation,
Anas bemicla Linnaeus (Bannister, 1870)
Bill very small with no serrations visible on the edge of the upper mandible as
in Anser q.v. For further particulars see Delacour, 1 : 145.
75. Redbreasted Goose. Branta ruficollis (Pallas)
Anser ntficollis Pallas, 1769, Spic. Zool., fasc. 6: 21, pi. 4 (Lower Ob, Southern Russia)
Baker, FBI No. 2259, Vol. 6: 407
local names. None recorded.
size. Domestic duck^; length c. 61 cm. (24 in.).
field characters. A small brightly coloured goose, largely black and
chestnut, strikingly marked with white.
Adult. Above , crown, dorsal side of neck, back and rump black, with
two conspicuous grey bars on closed wings. Sides of head and face boldly
patterned with white and chestnut. Below , ventral side of neck and upper
breast bright chestnut separated from black hindneck and black lower
breast by running white bands. Abdomen, vent, and a broad horizontal
band on Banks white. Sexes alike.
Young (immature) has the black parts browner and duller and the
chestnut parts paler and more cinnamon.
status, distribution and habitat. Rare straggler. Has only been
observed thrice within our limits: once in Madhya Pradesh in 1836 (Hume
1880, SF 8: 421) and twice in Assam on the Brahmaputra river (Baker);
not more recently than 1907.
ExtralimitaL 4 Breeds on the Siberian Tundra from the Ob to the
Khatanga. Winters in the southern part of the Caspian Sea and the Aral
Sea* (Peters).
general habits. See Delacour, 1 : 181. Nothing recorded in India.
DUCKS* GEESE, SWANS
125
Museum Diagnosis
MEASUREMENTS
Wing Bill Tarsus Tail
<?*9 342-363 23-27 52-58 100-110 mm.
(Delacour)
colours of bare parts. Iris hazel to brown, * chestnut * (Witherby). Bill
and legs black (Baker),
Genus Anser Brisson
Anser Brisson, 1760, Orn. 1 : 58, 6: 261, Type, by tautonymy, Anser domes tic a « Anas
anser Linnaeus
Bill short and high at base; nostrils situated half way between base and tip, the
latter furnished with a nail-like dertrum. Tarsus fairly long and strong. Wing long
and pointed. Tail short and rounded, of sixteen to eighteen feathers.
Key to the Species
Page
A Head white with two black bands at nape A . indicus 131
B Head dark 1
1 Nail of maxilla black A. fabalis 125
Nail of maxilla white a
a No white or very little white on forehead; rump grey, legs pink
A. anser 129
Considerable white on forehead and around base of bill; legs
reddish-flesh to orange- yellow I
I Wing over 380 mm A . albtfrons 126
Wing under 380 mm ; swollen yellow ring round eye
A. erythropus 128
Anser fabalis (Latham)
Key to the Subspecies
Bill and legs orange-yellow, occasionally pink
Wing 440-562 mm., bill 64-87 mm A . /. middendorffi
Wing 405-462 mm., bill 51-66 mm A. f. rossicus
76. Forest Bean Goose, Anser fabalis middendorffi Severtzov
Anser middendorffi Severtzov, 1873, Vert, goriz. rosprostr. tark. zhiv.: 149 (Sib^rie
Orientale « Oudskoi Ostrog.). ( — sibiricus Alpheraky)
77. Tundra Beau Goose, Anser fabalis rossicus Buturlin
Anser serrirastris rossicus Buturlin, 1933, Opredelitel promyslovikh pitz. d. h. Best,
Buch dcr jagdbaren Vagel: 60 (West Siberian Tundra. Locality restricted by
Dementiev, 1936, Alauda: 190, to Bcluchia Guba, Jamal, Taimyr).
Baker, FBI No. 2256, Vol. 6; 403 ( A. neglect us) 1
1 Sushkin’s Goose, A.f. nrglectus, recorded in winter from Assam, is now considered merely
a colour phase of the mixed population A fabalis rossicus (with pink hill and legs) breeding
in northern USSR.
126
ANSER I FORMES
size. Domestic goose ±; length c . 76 cm. (30 in.).
field characters. A large brown goose with an elongate body, long
neck, and longish slender bill making somewhat straight line with forehead;
black on bBsal half, yellow or pink on terminal half. Distinguished from the
Eastern Greylag, which it resembles, in being less grey more brown, with
uniformly dark brown head and neck contrasting with lighter breast and
back. Also by longer neck, less tubby body, and slenderer and longer
particoloured bill contt a all pink in Greylag.
status, distribution and habitat. Vagrant. Three specimens ( c mglectus *)
recorded from Assam by Baker. Possibly both forms occur less rarely in
winter, but unidentified.
Extralimital. A . f middendorffi breeds in forests of eastern Siberia from
the Khatanga to the Kolyma, south to the Altai. Winters in eastern China,
northern Mongolia, and Japan.
A. f rossicus breeds in Novaya Zemlya and on tundra shores of Arctic
Russia and Siberia west of the Taimyr Peninsula. Winters in Europe south
to Italy; in Asia to Turkestan arid China.
Museum Diagnosis. A. f rossicus differs from A. f middendorffi in being somewhat
stockier and less elongate in body, with the bill shorter and higher at base. Lower
mandible deep and distinctly curved outward, the nail at tip long, oval, and tapering
(contra lower mandible straight and nail rounded in middendorffi). Normally no
narrow band of white feathers around base of bill in either.
MEASUREMENTS
A. f middendorffi (f 1 $ Wing 440-562 ; bill 64-87 mm. ; visible depth of lower
mandible 7-10 mm.
A. f rossicus & 9 Wing 405-462; bill 51-66 mm.; visible depth of lower
mandible 7-10 mm.
colours of bare parts. Iris brown. Terminal half of bill, legs and feet orange*
yellow; often pink in rossicus .
[Synopsis (p. 26) includes the rinkfooted Goose, Anserfabalis brachyrhfnchus
Baillon, in the Indian avifauna chiefly on the basis of the record of one
shot in Bikaner, Rajasthan, in December 1948 (JBNHS 46: 186-7), The
identity of the specimen mentioned by Baker (Fauna 6: 403) as taken by his
collector in the Surma Valley, Assam, was doubted by Dr C. B. Ticehurst
(JBNHS 34: 489) who pointed out that this goose has a limited and dis-
tinctly western distribution in winter and riot a single record was known
even so far east as European Russia. Baker’s specimen is apparently non*
existent, but the one from Bikaner in the BNHS collection has been re-
examined by Mr Humayun Abdul ali and one of us (SDR) and proves in
fact to be a young Whitefront, A user albifrons albifrons . In the absence of
any specimens from India therefore, Anser f brachyrhynchus must be deleted
from the Indian list and Baker’s record of fi neglectus ’ from Assam treated
with cautious disbelief ! ]
79. Whltefroiited Goose. Anser albifrons albifrons (Scopoli)
Branta albifrons Scopoli, 1789, Annus I, Hist. Nat*: 69 (North Italy)
Baker, FBI No. 2253, Voi, 6 : 399
Plate 8, fig. 2, facing p. 160
local names. Unrecorded.
DUCKS, GEESE, SWANS
127
size. Greylag Goose — ; length c . 68 cm. (27 in.).
field characters. Darker and considerably smaller and daintier than
the Greylag, with a much shorter (pinkish) bilL A diagnostic white patch
on forehead (from base of bill), and irregular coarse black barring on
lower breast and flanks. Rump dark greyish brown contra grey in Greylag.
Legs orange. Sexes alike.
status, distribution and habitat. Sparse and rare winter visitor to
West Pakistan, NW. India (including Kutch and Rajasthan 1 , and across
the Gangetic Plain (U.P.) to Assam and Manipur). Southernmost record
in India from Ghilka lake, Orissa, c. 19°40'N. (Craven, JBNHS
48: 365-6).
Extralimital . Breeds on the Arctic coasts of Europe and Asia, east from
the Kanin Peninsula, Kolguev, and southern Novaya Zemlya to the Kolyma
river and perhaps beyond. Winters in W. Europe, shores of the Medi-
terranean, Black, and Caspian seas to China and Japan (Peter Scott). Also
in N. Iraq (C. D. W. Savage).
GENERAL habits. On the whole very similar to the Greylag. Has a
reputation for ability to rise almost vertically from the ground on sudden
alarm or disturbance, and to get out of gunshot faster than any other goose.
voice. Described as a high-pitched musical disyllabic honking, whence
known as * Laughing Goose ’ in many countries.
Museum Diagnosis. For full description of plumages civ:, see Witherby 1939,
3: 188. __
1 The bird shot in Bikaner in December 1948 and recorded (JBNHS 46; 196-7) as Attscr
fab alts brachyrhynchus , proves on re-examination to be an immature of this species.
128
A NS ERI FORMES
MEASUREMENTS
Wing
<?<? 392-442
9 9 380-421
BUI
(from feathers)
43-52
43-47
Tarsus
60-71
Tail
114-132 mm.
Extremes for European birds:
d* 9 369-450 40-55 55-80 — mm.
(nail 8-15)
Weight c. 2-3 kg. (Witherby)
colours of bare PARTS. Iris brown. Bill flesh colour or pale orange-yellow to
rosy flesh colour, the nail paler and whiter. Legs and feet reddish flesh colour to
orange-yellow, the webs paler; claws whitish (Baker).
80. Lesser Whitefronted or Dwarf Goose. Anser erythropus (Linnaeus)
Anas erythropus Linnaeus, 1758, Syst. Nat., ed. 10, 1: 123 (North Sweden)
Baker, FBI No. 2254, Vol. 6: 401
local names. Unrecorded.
size. Duck c. 53 cm. (21 in.).
field characters. Like the Whitefronted, A. albifrons , but considerably
smaller, dark brown, also with blotchy black bars on lower breast and
belly, with a round shaped head and proportionately much shorter pink
bill. The more extensive white forehead patch, reaching to top of head
between the eyes, and the conspicuous swollen ring of yellow skin around
Ant*r erythropus
DUCKS, GEESE, SWANS 129
the eye are diagnostic features which* on a satisfactory view, should settle
all doubt. Sexes alike,
status, distribution and habitat. Rare and sparse winter visitor.
Recorded sporadically from West Pakistan (Sind, the former NWFP),
Kashmir, Uttar Pradesh, Bengal, Bihar, and Assam. Has strayed as for south
as Maharashtra, Poona district (Trevenen, JBNHS 28: 1081).
ExtralimitaL Breeds largely on mountain tarns from Norwegian Lapland
to the Kolyma in Siberia, and perhaps further eastwards. Winters in south-
eastern Europe, Black and Caspian seas, Middle East (Iraq, Iran), Seistan,
Turkestan, China and Japan.
general habits. Usually congregates in large flocks in its regular winter
quarters, e.g. around the Caspian and in northern Iraq. In India recorded
only in twos and threes, separately or mixed up with flocks of Greylags.
voice. Described as resembling that of A. albifrons but much higher
pitched and more squeaky.
Museum Diagnosis. In the hand an additional point for differentiation from
albifrons is that the 4 teeth ’ or serrations are concealed when the bill is shut. For
details of plumages etc, see Witherby 1939, 3: 192.
MEASUREMENTS
Wing
Bill
Tarsus
Tail
<?<?
367-388
(from feathers)
28-35
58-62
95-109 mm.
9 9
352-381
32-35
—
—
Extremes
<? 9
Wing
340-390
Bill
30-45
(J. Berry
(Witherby)
in Witherby)
colours of bare parts. Iris brown. Bill pink. Legs orange-yellow (Delacour).
81. Eastern Greylag Goose. Ansar atiser rubrirostris Swinhoe
Anser citrreus var. rubrirostris Swinhoe, 1871, P.Z.S, : 416, ex Gray, 1846, Gat. Bds.
Nepal, 144, nom. nud., ex Hodgson, 1844, Zool. Misc. : 86, nom. nud. (Shanghai)
Baker, FBI No. 2252, Vol. 6: 398
Plate 4, fig. 4, facing p. 64
local names. Sona, Kama sona, Hans, Raj harts (Hindi); Raj kdns (Bengal); Kdj
(Bihar); Kallauk , Khar hans (Bhagalpur) ; Mogdla , A fogdla bdttdk (Nepal terai);
Kang ngd (Manipur); Raj bans, Dhitraj (Assam); 67/; (Kutch); Ilanj (Sind).
size. Domestic Goose ±; length a. 81 cm. (32 in.).
field characters. Very like the normal ashy brown phase of the
domestic goose. Pale or French grey rump, white upper tail-coverts, and
white nail to pink bill diagnostic.
In flight the comparatively pale head, and pale grey leading-edge of the
wing next the body, are additional pointers. Sexes alike.
status, distribution and habitat. Winter visitor. Common in West
Pakistan (Sind, the former NWFP), Kashmir 1 , Punjab, in small numbers in
1 A white goose shot by Col. H. Nedou and published (JBNHS 49: 31 1) as the first record
in India of the Snow Goose, Anser caerulescens, was wrongly identified. It proves to be a
partial albino Greylag.
ISO
AN SERI FORMES
Rajasthan, N. Gujarat, Nepal terai,and across the Gangetic Plain to Assam)
Manipur (abundant on Logtak lake), and East Pakistan, Abundant on the
Ghilka lake, Orissa, in some winters. Rare in Madhya Pradesh; virtually
absent in the Deccan and S. India. Only once in Ceylon.
Extralimital . Breeds eastwards from c, 40°E. and south of 60°N,, through
Asia Minor and central Asia to Kamchatka. In winter to the eastern
Mediterranean, Black and Caspian seas, and in Seistan and China (Peter
Scott).
migration. Little precise data. Normally arrives in large skeins (from
central Asia?) through the NWFP and Kashmir in October /November,
(sometimes as early as first half September) spreading out by December.
Has been observed migrating (this and /or Barheaded Goose) at over 4,270 m.
(14,000 ft) alt. across the Himalayas in this sector. Practically all have left
by end March.
Anser anser
general habits. Highly gregarious. Congregates in considerable flocks
on the larger jheels particularly in the north-west (e.g. Manchar and Haigam
lakes in Sind and Kashmir) wherever abundance of food, comparative
freedom from molestation, and extensive cultivation of winter crops in the
surroundings supply the essential requirements, Family parties or larger
gaggles spend the daytime squatting belly to ground or resting on one leg
on mud-spits in jheels and rivers or amidst open fields, or floating listlessly
on the water with head tucked in the feathers of the back. But the birds are
always uncannily vigilant and alert and can seldom be taken unawares. They
DUCKS, GEESE, SWANS 151
fly out to their accustomed feeding-grounds in the evenings and are active
more or less throughout the night — sometimes till well after sunrise. The
feeding is done by grazing in wet meadows or newly sown fields; also in
the water while swimming by submerging the head and up-ending like
ducks. Flight swift and strong with regular wing-beats either in the charac-
teristic V-formation or in trailing wavy ribbons; usually the former in
migration. Flocks occasionally indulge in spectacular aerobatics — plun-
ging, side-slipping, turning over on back (the * Immelmann Turn *) and
nose-diving high up in the air as if to escape some imaginary devil in pursuit,
apparently purely for fun.
food. Almost exclusively vegetarian. Whilst with us, grass and shoots
of winter crops such as wheat and gram (to which they may do considerable
local damage) and paddy left over in the stubbles after harvesting; also
aquatic weeds and tubers etc. Singhara (water-chestnuts = Trapa) in the
Kashmir lakes form the staple diet in season.
vocal. A nasal conversational gag-gag-gag while feeding. The far-
reaching honking aahng-ung-ung, with its variants, uttered in different keys
during the morning and evening flighting, is one of the most exhilarating
bird sounds for the sportsman and bird lover. These calls are also uttered
when migrating, especially during the flight.
breeding (including display etc.) see Witherby 1939, 3:182-3 for the
Western race.
Museum Diagnosis. Distinguished from the Western (nominate) race, A, a. anser
by its distinctly lighter and greyer colour, and pink instead of orange bill. No significant
size difference.
MEASUREMENTS
Wing Bill Tarsus Tail
C? 445-482 55-72 73-82 129-150 mm.
9 9 416-470 54-70 52-70 125-145 mm.
- (Delacour, for A. a, anser)
Weight (100 weighed by Hume) 2-72 kg. ( 9 ) to 3-86 kg. (c?)
colours of bare parts. Iris brown. Bill fleshy white to pink; nail paler and
whiter. Legs and feet pink.
82. Barheaded Goose. Anser indicus (Latham)
Anas indicus Latham, 1790, Index Orn., 2; 839 (Taimyr = India vide Ticehurst 1930,
JBNHS 34: 489)
Baker, FBI No. 2258, Vol. 6: 405
Plate 4, fig. 6, facing p. 64
LOCAL names. Hans, Kareyee hdns , Raj hdns , Birwa , Saw an (Hindi); Bddi hdns
(Bengal, Chittagong) ; Kdrhanch , Mogli (Mirshikars, Bihar); Cirwa , Paria (Nepal);
Ndngpa (Ladakh); Neer vaihoo (Coimbatore); Bomooria hdns , Buga rdjhdns (Assam);
King ngd (Manipur).
size. Greylag Goose — ; length c. 75 cm (30 in.).
field characters. A slender, pale grey, brown, and white goose.
Adult. Head, face, throat, chin, and a conspicuous strips down
each side of brown neck, white, A black bar across sinciput from eye to eye,
132
ANSERIFORMB5
and a shorter second one below it across nape, diagnostic. Bill and legs
yellow, nail at bill-tip black. Sexes alike.
In flight white head, pale body and black wing-quills are leading pointers.
x e. J
Young (immature). Like adult ^but paler. Head and neck pale grey
without markings. Hindcrown, hindneck, and a line through the eyes dusky
brown. Bill and feet greenish yellow.
status, distribution and habitat. Breeds in Ladakh ; elsewhere winter
visitor. Common throughout the northern portions, from West Pakistan and
Kashmir eastward through the Punjab, Rajasthan and the Gangetic Plain
(including Nepal terai) to Assam and East Pakistan. In some years abundant
on the Ghilka lake in Orissa. Rare in Gujarat and Deccan, but leap-
frogging as far south as Mysore in small numbers fairly regularly. Does
not reach Ceylon. Affects large j heels and rivers.
ExtralimitaL Breeds on high elevation lakes in central Asia from the
Tien Shan to Kokonor. Winters sparingly also in Burma.
Anser indie us
m Breeding Evigga Non-breeding
migration. Little known beyond that it normally arrives in northern
West Pakistan and MW. India about October /November, is well in by
133
DUCKS, GEESE, SWANS
mid-December, and mostly gone by end March during which month
thousands reported migrating northward over lower reaches of Kamali
river in Nepal (R. G. M. Willan, in epist. ). Two birds (1 juvenile, 1 adult),
ringed in Kirghiz SSR (c. 40°-42°N., 75°E.) in the breeding season, were
recovered in subsequent winters near Gilgit (c. 36°N., 74°E.) and in Dera
Ghazi Khan district, W. Pakistan (c. 30°N., 71°E.) respectively. (Details
in JBNHS 58: 284, 1961; 59: 964, 1962.) For migration over High
Himalayas in NW. sector see under Greylag.
general habits. Gregarious; family parties of 5 or 6 and gaggles of
up to a hundred or more. Not appreciably different from the Greylag
except that it keeps more to the larger rivers whose expansive sandbars
afford safe daytime refuge to vast resting congregations. Also largely a
crepuscular and nocturnal feeder, often causing considerable local damage
to winter crops. Extremely wary and difficult to approach while in its
winter quarters where commonly hunted, but astonishingly tame and
confiding where unmolested, e.g. on its breeding grounds in Tibet — at
least was (r. 1945) before the Chinese marched in.
voice. Similar to the Greylag’s but more nasal and musical.
food. Almost exclusively vegetarian: grass, tubers, tender shoots of
wheat, gram, and other winter crops. Also paddy in stubbles.
breeding. Within our limits only Ladakh, on the high plateau lakes at
c. 4300 metres elevation, e.g. Pangong Tso, Tso Moriri, and Tsokr.
Season , mainly end May and June. Nest , a slight depression in the ground
thickly padded with down which is banked up in a parapet around it. On
grassy islets in the lakes, or on inaccessible spongy humps in the surrounding
bogs — often many nests close to one another. At Tsokr, B. B. Osmaston
found them breeding also on cliffs in situations normally used by the
Brahminy Duck (q.v.) ; once in a disused raven’s nest padded with down.
Eggs, 3 to 6, commonly the latter; thick-shelled, ivory white, becoming
soiled during incubation by the owner’s muddy feet. Average size of 100 eggs
84*4 X 55*1 mm. (Baker). Incubation by female alone. Period 28-30 days
(Delacour). Gander very solicitous about safety of young, the two parents
flanking the chicks on either side when leading them on land or on water —
the brood occasionally strung out like a furry tail behind flank of swimming
parent.
Museum Diagnosis
Chick (in down). Above , pale greyish brown with yellow patches on wings.
Head and neck yellow, with a grey patch on occiput. Below, pale yellow. Bill bluish
.grey with fleshy nail. Legs greenish grey. [Sec Delacour 1954, 1: 192 (plate).]
MEASUREMENTS
Wing
Bill
Tarsus
Tail
450-482
48-63
70-80
140-170 mm.
99
406-460
47-55
63-75
127-160 mm.
colours of barb parts. Iris brown. Bill yellow with black nail and nostrils.
Legs and feet deep yellow (Delacour).
[Synopsis (p. 27) includes the Lesser Snow Goose or Blue Goose, Anser
caerulescens caerulescens (Linnaeus) in the Indian avifauna on the strength
134
AN SERI FORMES
of a record published in the Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society
(49: 311-12) of a white goose, then so identified, shot on Haigam jheel,
Kashmir, in February 1950 — a single bird with a party of Greylags. On a
re-examination of the specimen in the BNHS collection by Mr Humayun
Abduiali and one of us (SDR) it proves to be a partial albino of Anser onset
(JBNHS 63(1): 198). This leaves us without any record of the Snow
Goose in our area, and the species must therefore be expunged from the
Indian list.]
Genus C yon us Bechstein
Cygnus Bechstein, 1803, Orn. Taschenb., 2: 404, note. Type, by monotypy.
Anas olor Gmelin
Characterized by very long neck. Bill of moderate size, raised at the base, of nearly
equal breadth throughout. Nostrils elliptical, placed very far back. Wing long;
1st primary (as.) about half length of 2nd; 2nd and 3rd subequal and longest.
Tail short, well rounded. For further details sec Delacour 1954, 1: 57.
Key to the Species
A Lores and triangular patch between forehead and gape black. A knob
at base of bill in adults C. olor
B Lores and triangular patch between forehead and gape yellow or
orange-yellow, never black. Knob at base of bill lacking 1
1 Yellow on bill extending up to or beyond nostril towards tip of bill
C. cygnus
Yellow never reaching nostril and generally confined to somewhat
circular patch on base C. columbianus
Page
137
136
134
Cygnus columbianus (Ord)
Key to the Subspecies
Bill shorter (87-96 mm.), not so broad but comparatively high at
base. Serrations visible along edge of bill when closed
C. c. bewkkii
Bill longer (94-99 mm.), broader but less high at the base in comparison.
Serrations hardly visible when bill closed C.c. jankowskii
84. Bewick’s or Western Whistling Swan. Cygnus columbianus bewicki
Yarrell
Cygnus bewickii Yarrell, 1850, Trans. Linn. Soc. London, 16: 453
(Yarmouth, England)
Baker, FBI No. 2244, Vol. 6: 381
DUCKS, GEESE, SWANS 135
85. Jankowski’s or Eastern Whistling Swan. Cygnus columbianus
jankowskii Alph^raky
Cygnus bewickii jankowskii Alph&raky, 1904, Priroda i Okhota, Sep.; 10 (Uasuriland).
In Russian, cf. Buturlin 1907, Ibis: 651
Baker, FBI No. 2245, Vol. 6: 382 ( = C. minor)
Plate 8, fig. 3, facing p. 160
local names. Unrecorded.
size. Vulture +; length c, 122 cm. (48 in.) of which neck c. 60 cm.
field characters. Large, all-white, goose-like, but with much longer
and proportionately slenderer neck. A conspicuous yellow patch of variable
extent on base of bill (lores) more or less abruptly truncated behind nostril.
Terminal portion of bill black. Sexes alike.
status, distribution and habitat. Very rare straggler in severe winters.
Only five specimens appear to have been taken within our limits at irre-
gular intervals during the present century — one each in Baluchistan
(Khushdil Khan), Sind, NWFP (Attock dist.), and near Delhi, all in
December, the fifth and latest in Kutch (Bhuj) in February (JBNHS
47; 167), No racial identification is available for the previous specimens,
but the Kutch bird fits the characters of jankowskii . However, the eastern
and western races intergrade, and the distinctness of jankowskii is currently
doubted.
ExtralimitaL C. c. bewickii breeds in northern Russia from the Kanin
peninsula and N. Siberia east to the Lena delta. In winter south to British
Isles, N. Europe, Caspian Sea, and central Asia.
Cygnus columbianus
136
ANSER I FORMES
C. c.jankowskii breeds from the delta of the Lena to the delta of the Kolyma,
In winter south to China and Japan.
general habits. This and other swans have been recorded in India
singly, in pairs, or small herds, keeping to the larger rivers and open waters.
They swim buoyantly, rather high on the water, and feed mostly on aquatic
vegetation, submerging their head and neck in the quest and frequently
up-ending like ducks to reach the lower levels. Sometimes dives for food like
all other swans. They require effort to take off from the water, running some
distance along the surface with powerful flaps of the broad wings, but are
fast and graceful once properly airborne,, flying considerable distances on
migration.
Museum Diagnosis. For plumages and other details see Witherby 1939, 3: 174.
The eastern race C. c. jankowskii is described as differing from bewickii only by its
larger bill which is longer (94-99 mm. i>. 87-96), broader near the tip (32-36 mm.
v. 29-32), and higher near the base. Its yellow loral patch extends a little further
towards the nostril and is not so abruptly truncated. No size or other difference.
MEASUREMENTS (of C. c. bewickii)
Wing Bill Middle toe Tail
(from feathers) with daw
c7 9 480-560 87-96 115- 128 140-175 mm.
(Hartert)
The Kutch specimen (o?) measured in the flesh:
(from skull)
552 99 140 161 mm.
Tarsus 112 mm. (SA)
colours of bare parts. Iris brown. Bill black and yellow (see Field Characters).
Legs and feet black.
86. Whooper Swan. Cygnus cygnus (Linnaeus)
Anas cygnus Linnaeus, 1758, Syst. Nat., ed. 10, 1: 122 (Sweden)
Baker, FBI No. 2243, Vol. 6: 380
local names. Unrecorded.
size. Vulture + ; length c . 152 cm. (60 in.) of which neck c. 76 cm.
field characters. Very large, pure wlxite, goose-like, but with a
markedly straight and upright carriage of long neck when swimming. Bill
longer than in other swans, with the upper outline running straight from
tip to base of forehead. 4 Tip of bill black, base and lores yellow, this colour
extending forward laterally to the nostrils’ (Delacour). Sexes alike; female
slightly smaller.
status, distribution and habitat. Very rare straggler in severe winters.
Less than a dozen occurrences recorded within our limits sporadically: one
in Nepal in 1829, the others in the present century in NWF Province
(Peshawar dist.), Kashmir, Punjab, Sind and Rajasthan. Latest record of
three birds on Chenab river at Timmu (Jhang district, W. Pakistani),
December 1953 by Nasiruddin Khan (C. D. W. Savage). On large rivers
and open dhands or jheels.
DUCKS, GEESE, SWANS 137
Museum Diagnosis. For plumages and other details see Witherby 1939, 3: 168-72;
Delacour 1954, 1: 72-5.
MEASUREMENTS
Wing Bill Tarsus Tail
560-630 100-112 112-120 160-200 mm.
9 9 550-600 95-103 110-118 155-180 mm.
(Delacour)
Weight of adults: <? c. 7-12 kg.; 9 c, 6-10 kg.
colours of bark parts. Iris brown. Bill: base and lores yellow, tip black (see
Field Characters). Legs and feet black.
87. Mute Swan. Cygnus olor (Gmelin)
Anas olor Gmelin, 1789, Syst. Nat,, 1 : 502 (Russia)
Baker FBI No. 2246, Vol. 6: 383
local names. Unrecorded.
size. Vulture + ; length c. 152 cm. (60 in.) of which neck c . 76 cm.
field characters. As large as Whooper Swan, also pure white. Easily
identified by a prominent black knob on forehead at base of rather long
and pointed pinkish orange bill. Slender neck carried in a graceful S-shaped
curve. Sexes alike; female slightly smaller.
In subadult birds, as have mostly occurred in our area, traces of the pale
grey-brown juvenile plumage persist. The knob is absent or only slightly
developed ; the feathers of the forehead prolonged to a point.
status, distribution and habitat. Very rare straggler in severe winters.
About a dozen specimens in all have been taken within our limits sporadi-
cally during the last hundred years (the last in 191 1), chiefly in West Pakistan
— N. Baluchistan, Sind, the former NW. Frontier Province, and Punjab.
Most records are from the Indus and the Punjab rivers, and from Khushdil
Khan lake near Quetta, and the Manchar and other large duck-shooting
dhands or jheels in Sind. Sight record of a single bird from as far south as
the Bombay Deccan, near Poona (Trevenen 1922, JBNHS 29 : 287).
GENERAL habits, food, etc. See under C. c . bewickii . When angry this
species assumes the characteristic aggressive posture, commonly depicted
in pictures, drawing in the neck and arching the wings over the back.
Museum Diagnosis
MEASUREMENTS
Wing Bill Tarsus Tail
(from knob)
560-625 70-85 100-120 190-200 mm.
9 9 537-570
(Delacour)
Weight*. 6-11 kg,
colours of bare parts. Iris dark brown. Lores black. Bill: upper mandible
reddish homy, the knob, base, nostrils, margins, and nail black; lower mandible
wholly black* Legs and feet dull black.
138 ANSER I FORMES
* Genus Dendrooyona Swainson
Dtndrocygna Swainson, 1837, Classif. Bds., 2: 365. Type, by subsequent designation.
Anas arcuata Horsfield
Bill of moderate size, raised at base and of nearly equal width throughout. Nail
prominent and abruptly bent down. Nostrils situated about one-third length of bill
from base. Wings rather broad and rounded. Tarsus long and stout, reticulated on
lower portion in front. Legs placed more forward than in most Anatidae. Feet large.
The genus is represented almost throughout the tropical world, two species
being found in the Indian subcontinent. (For further details see Delacour, loc. cit.,
1 : 27-34.)
Key to the Species
Upper tail-coverts uniformly chestnut D. javanica
Upper tail-coverts whitish, sometimes marked with black../), bicolor
88. Lesser Whistling Teal or Tree Duck. Dendrocyma javanica
(Horsfield)
Anas javanica Horsfield, 1821, Trans. Linn. Soc. London, 13 : 199, pi. 1 (Java)
Baker, FBI No. 2260, Vol. 6: 41 1
Plate 4, fig. 5, facing p. 64 and Plate 7, fig. 3, facing p. 144
local names. Seelhi, Scelkahi (Hindi); Shardl Sharali 9 (Bengal); Hansralt
(Orissa); Sorali , Horali (Assam); Tingi (Manipur); Bongfang daophlantu (Cachar);
Yeranda (Malayalam); Chilli thdrd (Tamil, Ceylon); Seruwa, Thumba seruwd
(Sinhala); Nani sisoti (Gujarat); Chiku (Sind); Chayi (Kutch).
size. Domestic duck — ; length c. 42 cm. (17 in.).
field characters. A small pale brown and maroon-chestnut coloured
duck, confusable with no other of the same size except the Large Whistling
Teal. Uniformly chestnut upper tail-coverts distinguish it from the latter, in
which they are creamy white. Feeble, flapping rail-like flight, and the
shrill wheezy whistling notes constantly uttered on the wing are leading
clues to its identity. Sexes alike.
Young (immature). Duller coloured. Mantle feathers margined with
dingy fulvous instead of golden rufous. Lower plumage pale dull fulvous
brown.
status, distribution and habitat. Resident; moving about locally
with drought and flood. Also partial local migrant. All India, Andaman
and Nicobar islands, both Pakistans, Nepal (terai), Ceylon. Affects reedy
and vegetation-covered tanks and jheels in plains country.
ExtralimitaL Burma eastwards to coast of S. China, Malaysia, Thailand,
S. Viet Nam, Ryukyu Is., SW. Borneo, Sumatra, Java.
general habits. Sociable. Keeps in small parties of 10 to 15, occa-
sionally fairly large flocks, on and around weedy tanks and inundated paddy-
fields. Perches freely in the surrounding trees. Avoids open water and
large rivers. Mainly a nocturnal feeder, seeking safety during daytime
on undisturbed lotus-covered village tanks, or on the open sea just beyond
139
DUCKS, GEESE, SWANS
the surf, or backwater lagoons (in coastal areas), flighting at sunset to forage
in nearby paddyfields. A remarkable refuge of this type in the Calcutta
area is the open duck pond in Alipore Zoo, where hundreds of wild birds
congregate every morning to spend the day throughout the winter months,
year after year. Flight feeble, flapping reminiscent of a jasana’s. The birds
keep wheeling over a tank long after the better sporting ducks have departed
as a result of gunfire. They are poor eating and seldom shot by sportsmen.
It is a good diver and also walks well on marshy land, grazing rather
like a goose.
voice and calls. A shrill wheezy whistling seasick , seasick constantly
uttered on the wing.
food. Largely vegetarian — aquatic weeds and tender shoots and grain
of wild and cultivated rice etc. Also small fish, frogs, snails, worms.
breeding. Season overall June to October varying locally with early or
late monsoon and resulting water conditions; in Ceylon chiefly December-
January and July- August. Nest, of twigs and grass placed in natural hollows
in ancient tree-trunks, or built at moderate heights in the fork of large
branches, sometimes well away from water. Old nests of kites, herons and
crows frequently utilized. Some nests built on the ground among reeds and
scrub bordering a tank or jheel — fairly substantial pads of leaves, rushes,
and grass. Unlined with down, but occasionally with a few odd feathers.
Eggs, 7 to 12 (maximum recorded 17) — commonly 10, ivory white, smooth,
becoming stained brownish during incubation. Average size of 100 eggs
46-9 X 36*8 mm. (Baker). Both sexes said to incubate. Period of incubation
22 to 24 days (Baker) ; 4 probably 30 days * (Delacour).
Museum Diagnosis. Distinguished from D.fulva by smaller size and by uniformly
chestnut upper tail-coverts contra creamy white.
Chick (in down). 1 Blackish brown and whitish grey, with large [white] spots
on back * (Delacour) .
MEASUREMENTS
Wing
Bill
Tarsus
Tail
170-204
38-42
40-50
53-55 mm.
Weight c . 450-600 gm.
(Delacour)
colours of bare parts. Iris dark brown. Bill slaty grey to almost black, the
nail still darker. Eyelids bright yellow. Legs and feet plumbeous-grey or plumbeous-
blue; webs and claws blackish.
89. Large Whistling Teal. Dendrocygva bicolor (Vieillot)
Anas bicolor Vieillot, 1816, Nouv, Diet, Nat. Hist., 5: 136 (Paraguay)
Baker, FBI No. 226 1 , Vol. 6 : 4 1 3
Plate 4, fig. 8, facing p. 64
local name. Bddd shardl (Bengal).
size. Domestic duck — ; length c. 51 cm. (20 in.).
field characters. Similar to the Lesser Whistling Teal; ferruginous,
brownish black, cinnamon, and chestnut. Distinguished from it by some-
what larger size, creamy white (contra chestnut) upper tail-coverts, a black
140
ANSERIfORMES
line down back of neck, and a broad, diffuse rusty-whitish collar round
middle of foreneck. Sexes alike.
Young (immature). Duller; the chestnut portions more brown.
status, distribution and habitat. Resident, nomadic, and possibly
also local migrant in part. Scattered widely but sporadically in many areas;
everywhere rather scarce and much less common than Z>. javanica . Both
Pakistans, N. India south to the Deccan, Assam, Manipur; Ceylon (rare
vagrant). Frequents reedy and vegetation-covered jheels and tanks in plains
country.
Exiralimital. Range very remarkable: far flung, discontinuous and
fragmentary, yet producing no geographical variation. S. California, Mexico,
northern tropical S. America, Brazil, Peru, south to Paraguay and N.
Argentina. East Africa from Lake Chad to Natal; Madagascar. In Asia,
besides the Indian subcontinent and Ceylon, only Burma south to Pegu.
| Residential range
(Also Madagascar and Central & South America)
general habits. Keeps in smaller flocks and to rather more secluded
weed-covered tanks, but on the whole very similar to D . javanicus with
which it is often found in association. Wilder and faster on the wing.
voice. Also similar, but said to be shriller.
breeding. Apparently more common in Bengal (Nadia dist.) and East
Pakistan (Khulna and Jessore districts) than elsewhere in our limits.
Season , June to October, chiefly July- August. Nest, of sticks roughly put
together in hollows in ancient tree-trunks or in forks of large branches, at
moderate heights. Very like that of Lesser Whistling Teal; likewise appro-
priates disused nests of kites and crows. Occasionally built on ground among
rank vegetation at edge of a tank* Eggs, 6-8, ivory white, smooth, like those
of the preceding species only somewhat larger. Average size of 50 eggs
DUCKS, GEESE, SWANS 141
56*6 X 42*9 mm. (Baker)* Share of the sexes in incubation unrecorded.
Incubation period 30-32 days (Delacour).
Museum Diagnosis. For description of plumage see Baker, loc. cit.
Chick (in down). Pale greyish brown; white markings as in D* javanicus less
contrasty.
MEASUREMENTS
Wing Bill Tarsus Tail
<?9 200-235 42-52 56-61 52-58 mm.
(Delacour)
Females slightly smaller than males.
Weight c? c , 650-900 gm., 9 r. 450-730 gm.
colours of bare parts. Iris light to dark brown. Bill dusky black with bluish
slate of varying extent at base. Legs and feet pale dusky plumbeous or bluish slate,
to nearly black. Claws black.
Genus Tadorna von Oken
Tadoma L. von Oken, 1817, Isis, 1 : 1183. Type, by tautonymy, Anas tadorna Linnaeus
Casarca Bonaparte, 1838, Geogr. and Comp. List : 56. Type, by monotypy and
tautonymy. Anas rutila Pallas — A. ferruginea Pallas
Goose-like in shape and habits. Bill short, high at base, concave above, Battened
and turned up at tip. Nail small and abruptly turned downward and inward, thus
bill more or less hooked at tip. Nostrils less than one-third length of bill from base.
Tarsus scutellated in front near foot. Wings long and pointed. Tail rounded, of
fourteen feathers. Sexes more or less alike.
Two species occur in our limits, formerly placed under separate genera.
Key to the Species
Chestnut-coloured above and below, head paler chestnut, large white
patch on bend of wing, bill black T. ferruginea
Black and white above and below, head black, chestnut girdle around
breast and shoulders, bill red T. tadoma
90* Ruddy Shelduck or Brahxniny Duck. Tadoma ferruginea (Pallas)
Anas [ferruginea ) Pallas, 1764, in Vroeg, Cat. d’Ois., Adumbr.: 5 (Tartary)
Baker, FBI No. 2263, Vol. 6: 416
Plate 4, fig. 7, facing p. 64
LOCAL names. Chakwa c?, Chdkwi 9 > Siirkhdb, Ldl (Hindi) ; Mungh, Ldlo> Kwancha ,
Kathiun (Sind) ; Chdka-ck&ki (Bengal) ; Ramkaon , Chdkoi-chdkoua (Assam) ; Kesdr
pdndiaj Pdnda hansa (Orissa) J Sarza, Ckakrawak (Marathi) ; Bdpdnd chiluwd (Telugu) ;
(Tamil); Loku siruva (Sinhala).
size. Large domestic duck; length c . 66 cm. (26 in.).
fiei*d characters. A large orange-brown or cinnamon-brown duck
with paler head and neck, a prominent metallic green speculum oh wing
with a white patch (wing-coverts) in front of it, and black wings and tail.
142 AN SERI FORMES
In overhead flight orange-brown body, white underside of wings and black
quills (remiges) diagnostic.
Male, with narrow black collar or ring round base of neck in breeding
season; obsolete in winter.
Female, similar but with head paler and whitish and no black collar.
Young (immature) . Like
female but with a grey wash on
scapulars and tertiaries.
STATUS, DISTRIBUTION and
habitat. Winter visitor (breed-
ing in our area only in Ladakh).
All India (rare or absent in the
south), both Fakistans, Nepal
(possibly breeding), Ceylon
(occasional). Affects large open
lakes and rivers with shingle
banks and mudspits.
ExtralimitaL Breeds in S. Spain and from SE. Europe, Near East,
Caspian Sea, across Asia to Transbaikalia, south to Himalayas and SW.
China. [Also in SE. Iran and Seistan.] Winters in southern half of its breed-
ing range to the Nile Valley; India and S. China. Occasional in Britain
(Peter Scott).
migration. Arrives in N. India c. October /November; most have
departed by mid-April. A juvenile ringed in Kirghiz SSR (r. 42°N., 75°E.)
in July 1959 was recovered near Lahore (c. 31°30'N., 74°20'E.) in
October of the same year (JBNHS 58: 284).
X
DUCKS* GEESE, SWANS 143
general kabits* Less gregarious than most other ducks* Usually seen
in pairs and small parties, less commonly in flocks of twenty or more. But
occasional enormous congregations have been recorded, e.g. on Chilka
lake in Orissa, one such estimated by an experienced duck hunter (L. A.
Craven) at 8 not less than 15,000* (JBNHS 49: 313). Rather aggressive
in disposition, and intolerant of feeding competitors of its own and other
species. Its flesh is considered rank and fishy, therefore sportsmen usually
leave it alone* Nevertheless it is excessively wary and difficult to approach
in its winter quarters, flying off and giving the alarm to other ducks long
before they have scented danger. Contrary to this, ridiculously tame and
confiding on its breeding-grounds, e.g. in Ladakh and Tibet where condi-
tioned to non-molestation from the Buddhist inhabitants, even settling
and waddling about on the flat roofs of Tibetan houses and nesting in
lumber rooms (Ludlow, JBNHS 33: 79). Walks well and with ease; grazes
on dry river banks and grassy lake margins like geese.
food. Omnivorous; takes grain, tender shoots and tubers, crustaceans,
molluscs, aquatic insects, reptiles, etc. Alleged to share carrion with vultures
occasionally; this needs confirmation.
voice and galls. A loud, nasal, clanging aang-aang rather like the
Greylag’s in the distance, uttered on the ground as well as in flight.
breeding. Around the high-altitude lakes and swamps above c . 4000 m.
in Ladakh, e.g. Pangong, Tsokr, and Tso Moriri. Possibly also in the
Khuntbu region of Nepal at c. 5000 m. Season , chiefly May and June. Nest, a
thick pad of white down (the duck’s own) in a hole or fissure in a cliff, often
far from water and maybe several hundred metres above a lake or bog. The
ducks flying about the rugged contours or alighting like pigeons on rocky
pinnacles high up on a forbidding mountainside present a curiously un-
realistic spectacle. Eggs , 6 to 10, ivory white, moderately broad ovals, about
equal at both ends. Average size of 85 eggs 67-0 x 47-0 mm. (Baker).
Incubation mainly by female (?). Incubation period 28-30 days (Delacour).
Both parents tend the ducklings, frequently of more than one brood: in
one case as many as 34 ducklings accompanying a single pair recorded
(Ludlow, Ibis 1928: 229). The downy chicks probably shuffle and tumble
their way down the rugged slopes to the water. Osmaston suggests their
being carried down in the parent’s bill. The actual process has not been
observed.
For courtship display etc. see Withcrby 1939, 3: 228.
Museum Diagnosis. For description of plumage see Baker 1929, loc. cit. Both
sexes possess a rudimentary spur on the carpal joint whose significance is not under-
stood.
Chick (in down). Above , dark brown marked with white. Below , white. Very
similar to chick of T. tadoma but with lores dark brown as on crown, contra white
(Ticehurst).
MEASUREMENTS
Wing
Bill
Tarsus
Tail
<?<?
365-387
43-48
60-66
142-146 mm.
99
340-355
38-42
55-60
140-142 mm*
(Delacour)
144 ANSERIFORMES
Weight <?» 3 lb, to 4 lb. 4 oz. (e. 1360 to 2140 gm.) ; 9 2 lb. 10 oz. to 3 lb. 5 oz.
(c, 940 to 1500 gm;) (Hume).
colours of bar* parts. Iris rich brown. Bill, legs, and feet black.
miscellaneous* As Ch&kwa-ch&kwi (its commonest Hindi name for
male and female respectively) the Brahminy Duck has won immortality in
popular folklore. Legend describes the birds as a pair of lovers torn apart
by unkind fate, ceaselessly calling and answering each other in anguished
tones.
91. Common Shelduck. Tadorna tadorna (Linnaeus)
Anas Tadorna Linnaeus, 1758, Syst. Nat., ed. 10, 1: 122 (Sweden)
Baker, FBI No. 2262, Vol. 6; 414
Plate 8, fig. 4, facing p. 160
local names. Shah chdkwa , Safed surkhdb , Rararia (Hindi) ; Shdh chaka (Bengal) ;
Thdrjo nirdgi (Sind).
size. Domestic duck ±1 length c. 61 cm. (24 in.).
field characters. A handsome, strikingly coloured duck, chiefly
white, black, and chestnut, with a distinctive bright red upturned bill and
pink legs.
Male (adult). Above , head and neck glistening greenish black. Rest of
upperparts white with two broad black bands along either side of upper
back (scapulars). Glistening green wing-speculum bordered above by a
chestnut patch. Below , white. A broad chestnut hoop or girdle around upper
breast and shoulders. A broad black band from breast to vent and a cons-
picuous red knob above base of bill.
Female considerably smaller and duller coloured, with the chestnut
breast feathers edged with black vermiculations.
Young (immature). Head and neck dull
blackish ; interscapulars dark brown ; no
chestnut breast band but sides sometimes
suffused with chestnut.
status, distribution and habitat. Casual
and uncommon winter visitor; fairly plentiful
in certain years. Recorded in W. Pakistan
(Baluchistan, Sind, the former NWF Province),
Punjab, Kashmir, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh
(Mainpuri, Banda, Sitapur districts), Bengal (Murshidabad district,
Calcutta Salt Lakes), Assam (Brahmaputra river), Manipur (Logtak lake),
East Pakistan, Bihar (Monghyr, Darbhanga and Patna districts), Orissa
(Chilka lake), Gujarat (Kutch, Saurashtra), Madhya Pradesh (Neemuch),
south to the Deccan (Poona). Has occurred regularly in small numbers in
recent years in parts of Sind and Punjab (G. D. W. Savage, 1966, in episU).
On open lakes and large rivers. Not recorded on sandy and muddy sea
coasts and estuaries where chiefly met with in Europe*
ExtralimitaL ‘Breeds on coasts of W. Europe, including the British
Isles; locally about the shores of the Mediterranean, Black, and Caspian
seas, east on the saline lakes of central Asia to E. Siberia, Mongolia, and
DUCKS, OBESE, SWANS 145
Tibet. Winters from southern part of its breeding range to N. Africa, Arabia,
India, south China and Japan * (Peter Scott) .
general HABITS. Normally more gregarious than die Brahminy. In our
area occurs sporadically and irregularly in small parties here and there in
the northern parts of the subcontinent. Perhaps more regular on the larger
open lakes such as the Manchar and Chilka, and on broad rivers, e.g. the
Indus and Brahmaputra, with extensive mudspits and shingle banks.
4 Hundreds 9 recorded on the Chilka in December 1937 ; practically none the
following year! Keeps to mudflats more than water, sauntering about with
the facility of geese.
food. Molluscs, crustaceans, insects, and worms. Also algae, seeds,
leaves and tubers of aquatic plants, etc.
voice and oalls. Apparently not heard in India. Recorded elsewhere
as a clear whistle (male) and a harsh short quack (female).
breeding. The only record in our area is from W. Pakistan — near
Khushdil Khan lake, Quetta dist. (Christison, JBNHS 43: 486). Breeds
more commonly in neighbouring Seistan (Persian Baluchistan). Season ,
May-Junc. Nest , a bed of down in a natural crevice or hollow in a cliff or
batik. Eggs, 8 to 16, pearly white. Average size of 100 eggs 65*7 X 47 • 3 mm.
(Baker). (For further details see Witherby 1938, 3: 223.)
Museum Diagnosis
MEASUREMENTS
Wing Bill Tarsus Tail
318-350 52-60 50-57 110-130 mm.
9 9 290-334 44-54 48-52 100-1 15 nun.
(Delacour)
Weight c? 2 lb. to 2 lb. 14 oz. (c. 910-1300 gm.); 9 2 lb. to 2 lb. 2 oz. (< e . 910-
960 gm.) (Hume & Marshall).
colours of bare parts. Iris brown. Bill deep fleshy red to coral-red; nail
darker and brownish. Legs and feet fleshy pink to fleshy red ; claws black.
Genus Anas Linnaeus
Arms Linnaeus, 1758, Syst. Nat., ed. 10, 1: 122. Type, by subsequent designation.
Anas boschas Linnaeus = Anas platyrkynchosLinnsuius (Lesson, 1828, Man. d’Om.,
2:417)
Includes the Dabbling or Surface-feeding ducks characterized by shorter tail
and shorter legs than shelducks ( Tadoma) set farther back in the body, producing a
more waddling gait on land. Tarsus with shields in front. Hind* toe (hallux) with a
much narrower inner lobe than in Pochards or the so-called Diving ducks. Also
characterized by a common behaviour and display pattern.
Genus cosmopolitan. Represented in India by twelve species many of which were
formerly assigned to separate genera. Most species sexually dimorphic. For further
details see Delacour 1956, 2: 17-22.
Key to the Species
Adult males in breeding plumage
A Speculum wanting A. angustirostris
8 Speculum always present 1
1 Bill spatulate * A. clypeata
Page
147
172
10
146
ANSBUI FORMES
Page
Bill not spatulate a
a Outer wing-coverts blue or blue-grey * . * * A. querqutdula * 169
Outer wing-coverts not blue or blue-grey . . . . 1
I Central tail-feathers greatly lengthened and pointed, extending
from 75 to 100 mm. beyond upper tail-coverts A . acuta 149
Central tail-feathers moderate in length and not elongated
. a 1
a 1 Large-sized ( length c . 61 cm. =* 24 in. ) ; bill broad ( 23 mm.
across at widest point) b 1
Medium-sized (49-56 mm. « 19-22 in.); bill narrow (15-18
mm. across at widest point) b*
Smaller-sized (38-43 cm. = 15-17 in.) .b*
b 1 Speculum purple-blue or green; outer webs of long
pointed tertiaries edged with white. ... A, poecilorhyncha 157
Speculum purple-blue; no white on edges of tertiaries
A. platyrhynekos 160
b* Tail-coverts longer than rectrices A. falcata 165
Tail-coverts shorter than rectrices c 1
c l Central tail-feathers extending 30 mm. or more
beyond upper tail -coverts A. pendope 1 67
Central tail-feathers extending less than 30 mm.
beyond upper tail-coverts A. strepera 163
b* Speculum : Outermost secondaries black with narrow
white tips, those next to them brilliant metallic green and
their coverts tipped rufous A . crecca 151
Speculum : Outermost secondaries black with wide
white tips, those next to them bronze-green at base, then
black tipped with white and their coverts tipped rufous
A . formosa 154
Speculum ; Outer secondaries black, except two or
three in the centre which are bronze-green
: A . gibberifrons 155
Adult females, and males in eclipse plumage
A Speculum wanting * .A. angustirostns 147
B Speculum always present 1
1 Bill spatulate A.clypeata 172
Bill not spatulate a
a Outer wing-coverts blue or blue-grey A. querqutdula 169
Outer wing-coverts not blue or blue-grey I
I Underparts brown or mottled brown a 1
Underparts white or whitish a 1
a 1 Small nuchal crest A. falcata 165
Nuchal crest absent b*
b l Outer edge of tertiaries white forming conspicuous patch
on wing c l
White patch absent c*
c 1 Speculum blue- violet or green A. poecilorhyncha 157
DUCKS, GEESE, SWANS
14?
Page
c* Speculum purple-blue bordered in front and behind
with black and white band, the white predominating
A. platyrkynchos ISO
Speculum dark dull brown splotched with green or
bronzy overtones . A , acuta 149
Outer secondaries black except two or three in the centre
which are bronze-green A. gibbertfrons 155
a 1 Speculum white . A.strepera 163
Speculum dull blackish, sometimes glossed with green and
bordered inwardly by white edges of long pointed tertiaries
A.penelope 167
Speculum : Outermost secondaries black with narrow
white tips, those next to them brilliant metallic green some-
times narrowly tipped with black and white, their coverts
tipped rufous A. crecca 151
Speculum : Outermost secondaries black with wide white
tips, those next to them bronze-green at base, then black
tipped with white and their coverts tipped rufous
. ’. A.formosa 154
92. Marbled Teal. Anas angustirostris M6netri£s
Anas angustirostris Menetrite, 1832, Cat. Rais. Obj. Zool. Caucase: 58
(Lenkoran, Transcaspia)
Baker, FBI No. 2277, Vol. 6: 445
Plate 8, fig. 5, facing p. 160
LOCAL NAME. Choi (Sind).
size. Domestic duck — ; length c. 48 cm. (19 in.).
FIELD CHARACTERS.
Adult. Above y overall greyish brown, spotted or marbled with pale
greyish buff* and blackish. A large brown patch
from eye to nape. A slight nuchal crest. Speculum
or wing-mirror inconspicuous, dull pale brown.
Below , sullied white, more or less barred trans-
versely with brown. Sexes alike; female slightly
smaller.
x r. b Young (immature) . Like adult but markings
duller and greyer, the large creamy spots on the
upperparts lacking. Underparts almost uniform.
status, distribution and habitat. Peripheral breeding range in W.
Pakistan (Baluchistan, and possibly also Sind where not uncommon through-
out the year, e.g. on the Manchar, and fairly abundant in winter). Chiefly
a rare winter visitor to northern parts of the subcontinent. Has occurred
frequently but erratically in the former NWF Province (Nowshera), Punjab
(Biahawalpur), and as a straggler in Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh,
Rajasthan (Bikaner, Bharatpur districts), Gujarat (Kutch, Bhavnagar,
Ahmedabad, and Baroda districts), Bengal (Calcutta area), Assam (Sibsagar
district), Maharashtra (Ahmednagar, Poona). Affects reedy and matted
148 ANSER1 FORMES
vegetation-covered jheels, inundated tamarisk forest, etc., normally avoiding
open water.
ExtralimitaL Resident (breeds) in Mediterranean Basin from southern
Spain to Near East, Persia, Baluchistan, and NW. India (Peter Scott).
Anas Mtuttirottrl*
general habits. Normally in pairs or small parties; occasionally larger
Bocks in winter. Habits rather coot-like; dropping into cover after a short
flight rather than flying round and round with other ducks when disturbed
by gunfire. Feeds chiefly swimming.
food. Almost entirely vegetarian — shoots, tubers, seeds of aquatic
plants. Partly also worms, molluscs, aquatic insects and larvae.
voice and calls. Silent. Male’s calls variously described as a ‘ weak
nasal squeak ‘ a whistling croak ’ and ‘ a low croaking whistle \ Also a
loud and abrupt quack (female?). But apparently insufficiently known and
needs accurate recording.
breeding. Breeds in West Pakistan (Khushdil Khan lake near Quetta
c . 1500 m. altitude; Sonmiani jheel, Las Bela) ; possibly also on the Manchar
in Sind, and in Gujarat as conjectured but not yet substantiated. Season,
May/June. Nest, of rushes and weeds, unlined or sometimes scantily so with
down; concealed among weeds and rushes on swampy ground or on an
islet in a lake. Eggs, 9 to 12, pale creamy, rather long elliptical oval in
shape, with a smooth glossy surface. Average siase of 122 eggs
46-5 x 34*2 mm, (Baker). Share of the sexes in incubation not recorded.
Incubation period 25 days (Delacour).
Museum Diagnosis. Bill long, narrow, high near base, depressed beyond the
nostrils, with very short lamellae. The absence of a metallic speculum is a curious
148
DUCKS, GEESE, SWANS
departure tan the normal condition in its close relatives of the genus Anas. Pre-
viously placed in a separate genus, Marmaroiietta, considered from structure and
habits to bridge Nation with Anas, now united (Johnsgaard 1961, Bull. B.O/C.,
81 : 37-43).
Chick (in down). Like Mallard (q.v.) in pattern, but brownish grey above, pale
grey below.
MEASUREMENTS
Wing Bill
Tarsus
Tail
205-215 43-45
36-38
85-105 mm.
9 9
198-205 —
—
(Delacour)
Weight i lb. 3 o %. to 1 lb. 5 oz. (c. 535-592 £m.) ; 9
lib. to 1 lb. 3 oz.
450-535 gm.) (Hume & Marshall).
colours ov barb PARTS. Iris brown. Bill blackish with a dull grey-green triangle
at the base (more pronounced in 9 ) and a whitish subterminal line in Legs
and feet olive-brown, the webs blackish.
93. Pintail, Anas acuta Linnaeus
Anas acuta Linnaeus, 1758, Syst. Nat., ed. 10, 1: 126 (Sweden)
Baker, FBI No. 2274, vol. 6: 437
Plate 1, fig. 4, facing p. 16
LOCAL NAMES. Sand, Seenkh pdr (Hindi); Kohdrdli, Drigosh (Sind); Dhruguchho
(Kutch); Dig hdns, Bada digar , Sholoncko (Bengal); Dighonch (Mirshikars, Bihar);
Digunch (Nepal) ; Nanda, Nanja (Orissa) ; Nejdl hdns , Dighal negi (Assam) : Daophlantu
loubi (Cachar); Meitunga (Manipur).
size. Domestic duck — ; length c. 56-74 cm. (22-29 in.).
FIELD CHARACTERS.
Male (breeding). Elongated body, slender neck, and long pointed
pin-like central tail-feathers diagnostic. Black under tail-coverts with a broad
buff patch in front, additional pointers. Head, face, and throat chocolate;
hindneck black. A white band running down either side of neck, broadening
into white of breast and belly. Upper plumage and flanks largely grey,
finely vermiculated with black. Conspicuous silver-grey edges to long black
pinnate scapulars and upper tail-coverts. Speculum metallic bronze-green.
x c. *
Male (in eclipse)' More or less like female, sometimes with the mantle
dark ashy- or blackish grey coarsely vermiculated with greyish white*
150 ANSERI FORMES
Female (adult)* Mottled brown and buff with pointed but pinless taiL
Rather like slender female Gadwall but lacking its characteristic white
wing-patch and orange bill. Absence of prominent speculum distinguishes
her from female Mallard. In overhead flight the peculiar trident-like
ending — the two feet with pointed tail projecting between — identifies it.
Anas acuta
Young (immature) male has wing coloration of adult male, but with
faint light edges to wing-coverts. Rest like female,
status, distribution and habitat. Winter visitor. Common, wide-
spread, and locally abundant: all-India, both Pakistans, Nepal, Ceylon;
probably also Andaman and Nicobar islands whence not yet reported.
Affects reedy and vegetation-covered j heels, brackish lagoons, and estuaries.
Extralimital. * Breeds in the northern parts of Europe, Asia, and N.
America, including British Isles. Winters south to N. Africa, the Nile Valley,
Ethiopia, the Persian Gulf, India, Ceylon, Burma, Siam, S. China . . /
(Peter Scott).
migration. Arrives in W. Pakistan and NW. India in September and
October; normally well spread out east and south by middle of November,
Mostly gone by end March. Recoveries of Russian-ringed birds in India
and vice versa suggest that our migrants originate chiefly from the Caspian
region and Siberia, lying between c . 45° and 65°N. Iat. and c. 48 d and 100°E.
long. — at single straight-line distances on the map of up to about 5000 km.
general habits. One of our commonest migratory ducks. Keeps in
flocks of 15 or 20 to several hundred strong. Early in the season parties
often composed entirely of drakes. Usually wild and wary, swift on the
wing, and invariably seeming in tearing haste. The peculiar hissing or
swishing sound produced by the rapid wing-beats of a flock overhead is
151
DUCKS, GEESE, SWANS
audible from considerable heights. One of the species most sought after by
duck hunters both for its sporting qualities and its excellence as a table bird.
Seems uncannily aware of this human predilection and is always amongst
the first to zoom out of gunshot range when shooting has commenced
on a j heel, or to clear right away to other waters while the less prized species
are still milling around and paying the toll. Largely a crepuscular and
nocturnal feeder, flock after flock flighting at sundown from the daytime
retreat on some weedy jheei to forage in favourite marshes or squelchy
paddyficlds, and back again before dawn. This morning and evening
4 flighting 1 provides exhilarating sport for duck hunters. Where hunting
pressure is not heavy, may continue fp feed till the sun is well up, or even
during the day, walking about freely and grubbing on marshy tank edges
or in wet paddy stubbles. In shallow water the food is procured by the
characteristic tipping up or up-ending of the non-diving or surface-feeding
ducks. A flock engaged in this way, with merely the tail ends projecting
above the surface here and there, presents a singularly comical sight.
food. Chiefly vegetable matter — grass, conns, shoots, and seeds of
aquatic plants, and wild and cultivated rice. To a lesser extent also molluscs,
worms, water insects and larvae.
voice. Very silent. No calls recorded in India.
breeding. Entirely extralimital. For particulars of courtship display,
nesting, etc. see Witherby 1939, 3: 271-2.
Museum Diagnosis. For description of plumages, moults, etc. ibid. : 273-5.
MEASUREMENTS
Wing
Bill
Tarsus
(from feathers)
254-287
48-59
39-44
22
242-266
45-50
38-42
Tail
172-209 mm
Weight d 1 1 lb. 10 oz. to 2 lb. 12 oz. (c. 730-1250 gm.); 9 1 lb. 2 oz. to 1 lb.
14 oz. (c. 500-850 gm.) (Hume & Marshall).
colours or bare parts. Iris dark brown, often tinged with red. Bill light to
dark plumbeous, the culmen, lower mandible, and base, darker. Legs and feet dark
plumbeods^grcy or blackish; webs, daws, and joints blacker.
miscellaneous. Flight speed, cliased c. 104 km./h (Sprunt & Zim).
94. Common Teal. Anas crecca meets Linnaeus
Anas Crecca LinnaeUs, 1758, Syst. Nat., ed. 10, 1 : 126 (Sweden)
Baker, FBI No. 2271, Vol. 6: 431
Plate 1, fig. 3, facing p. 16
local names. Chhoti murghabi , Kerra, Lohiya kerra, Chow tee, Patari , Souchttruka
(Hindi) ; Naroib, Patari horn, Tulsibigri (Bengal) ; Baijla (Mirshikars, Bihar) ; Baijila
gain (Nepal) ; Kardo (Sind) ; Kildwdi (Tamil) ; Teranda (Malayalam) ; Solan h&kki
(Kannada) ; Kalimari , Chila bans , Patari ham (Assam) ; Dadphlantu kashiba (Cachari) ;
Seruwd (Sinhala) ; Surit (Manipur).
size. Half-grown domestic duck length f. 38 cm. (15 in.). <
FIELD CHARACTERS.
152 ANSERIFORMES
Male (breeding)* Pencilled greyish, with chestnut head and a broad
metallic green band running backward from in front of eye to nape, narrowly
bordered above and below with
whitish. A tricoloured wing bar
(speculum) — - black, metallic green,
buff — particularly conspicuous in
flight.
Male (in eclipse). Head as in
female, but crown and nape blackish
brown, the feathers narrowly edged
with buffish cinnamon. Mantle and
scapulars edged and marked With
rufous-buff.
Female (adult). Mottled dark and light brown, with black and green
wing speculum, and pale underparts. May be confused with female
Garganey (q.v.), but the prominent speculum is distinctive. At rest, and at
close range, speckled brown throat ( v . unmarked whitish) is also a pointer.
Young (immature). Belly spotted; secondaries shorter.
status, distribution and habitat. Winter visitor. Common, wide-
spread and locally abundant: all India, both Pakistans, Nepal, Ceylon,
Andaman, Nicobar, and Maidive islands. Affects tanks, jheels, and marshes,
chiefly freshwater.
ExtralimitaL 4 Breeds in Europe and Asia from Iceland to China,
Manchuria and Kurile Islands, and Japan. Winters as far south as N.
Africa, Nile Valley, Somaliland, Persia, India, to southern China and the
Philippines * (Peter Scott).
Xf.J
Anas crtccs crecca
DUCKS, GEESE, SWANS 15$
migration. Together with the Garganey, one of the earliest ducks
to arrive in autumn, numbers being already in in W. Pakistan and NW.
India by middle or end August, the influx continuing till November, by
which time the birds are widely spread out. Many birds moult the remiges
after reaching their winter quarters in India, becoming flightless for a time.
Mostly gone again by end March; some staying on as late as May. Observed
on northward passage in Ladakh, at over 3000 m. altitude in April
(Meinertzhagen). Recoveries to date of Russian- ringed Teal in W. Pakistan
and India, and Indian rings in the USSR, indicate that our winter visitors
are derived from the Caspian region east to Kirghiz SSR (between c .
50° and 90°E.), and north in Siberia to c. 68°N.
general habits. One of our commonest and most abundant ducks,
widely scattered in the plains country on every sort of marsh and inland
water, large or small, provided it is shallow, has a muddy bottom, and
a plentiful supply of aquatic vegetation, Judged by the qualities that most
appeal to the sportsman — abundance, swiftness and versatility on the
wing, and palatability — one of our gamiest species. Keeps in small parties
and large flocks of up to 200 or more, congregating at times in swarms
(together chiefly with the Garganey) that literally blacken acres of marsh-
land and sky, e.g. in the Little Rann of Kutch, before emigration.
On migration, or when commuting to and from distant nocturnal feeding-
grounds, the birds fly in a succession of wide Vs or wavy convex lines with a
broad front; when disturbed by gunfire on a jheel, usually in close-knit
packs which turn and twist in unison with the speed and agility of the smaller
waders. They have an uncanny ability to jink in mid-air — braking to a
sudden momentary halt in full flight, changing course and rocketting
vertically into the sky upon discovering the gunner’s ambush or to avoid his
forwardly directed shots. Feeding is done by up-ending in shallow water
as well as by grazing and grubbing on marshy land.
food. Almost entirely vegetarian: shoots, tubers, and seeds of aquatic
plants, and grains of wild and cultivated rice.
voice and calls. A low musical far-sounding krit , krit by the male;
a short sharp quack by the female, usually uttered when suddenly alarmed.
breeding. Entirely extralimital. For particulars of courtship display,
nesting, etc. see Witherby 1939, 3: 246.
moult. Some individuals — presumably our earliest arrivals — leave
their breeding grounds even before the post-nuptial (autumn) moult,
contrary to the norm in migratory ducks. They shed their wing quills
simultaneously after reaching their winter quarters, becoming completely
flightless for a time.
Museum Diagnosis. For description of plumages, moults, etc. see Witherby 1939,
3: 248-50.
Chick (in down). Very similar to Mallard (q.v.), blackish brown and yellow.
with two dark lines on face.
MEASUREMENTS
Wing
Bill
Tarsus
Tail
eft?
175-192
34-38
27-30
62-72 mm.
99
170-180
31-36
—
—
(Dclacour)
154
ANSERI FORMES
Weight c?9 7-7 oz t to 12 oz. (e. 225-340 gm.) — Hume & Marshall
colours of bare parts. Iris brown. Bill black, paler and browner under lower
mandible; in female more yellow-brown, sometimes tinged with green* Legs and
feet light bluish or olive-grey to deep slaty blue or dark olive-plumbeous*
95. Baikal, ducking or * Formosa 5 Teal* Anas formosa Georgi
Anas formosa Georgi, 1775, Bemerk. Reise Russ. Reich, 1 : 168 (Lake Baikal, Siberia)
Baker, FBI No. 2272, Vol. 6: 433
Plate 8, fig* 6, facing p* 160
local names. Unrecorded.
size. Common Teal +; length c. 40 cm. (15J in.).
field characters. A remarkably beautiful teal.
Male (breeding). With a distinctive gaudily patterned head. Crown,
nape, hindneck, and throat black. Face, sides of upper foreneck, and below
the throat buff, narrowly margined with white. A narrow crescentic
vertical black band from eye down across the face to the black throat.
Crown fromin front of and above eye bordered on each side by a narrow
white band looping forward down the sides of the black nape into the
buff lower throat. A broad crescentic metallic green band from behind
eye down sides of head bounded behind by the white loop and in front
by the buff facial patch. Mantle slaty grey, pencilled with brown and
black. Inner scapulars and tertiaries very long and lanceolate as in the
Garganey, velvety black, white and cinnamon. Speculum black and bronze-
green, edged with black and white. Below , breast vinaceous, spotted with
black. Sides slaty. Rest of underparts largely white.
Female (adult). Overall brown, similar to female Common Teal
but for somewhat larger size and the distinctive head pattern — crown
dark; face light speckled brown with dark lines above the eyes from eye
to nape. A round white patch at base of bill (below the brown lores).
Young (immature). c Like female but plainer, with no white patch near
bill * (Delacour).
status, distribution and habitat. Very rare and sporadic winter
visitor. Has been recorded at long intervals about a score of times in the
last 70 years or so, in Sind, Punjab, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh,
Bihar, Bengal, Assam, Manipur, the most recent being a sight record on the
Jumna near Delhi, 12 May [jwJ 1947 (R. S. Symons). Owing to similarity
of female with female Teal, possibly some examples go undifferentiated,
in spite of larger size.
Extralimital . * Breeds in Siberia east from the Yenisey river to the Kolyma
delta and Anadyr, south to Lake Baikal, northern Sakhalin and northern
Kamchatka. Winters in China and Japan. 1 Recorded from Formosa but
derives its name not from that island but from the fact that “formosa” is the
Latin for “ beautiful"* (Peter Scott).
1 Very abundant winter visitor in southwestern Japan particularly in certain years,
flocks numbering 10,000 having been observed. The highest single day's catch of three
men operating six throw-nets on a pond was 10,000 Baikal Teal! (Austin & Kuroda 1953).
DUCKS, GEESE, SWANS
155
general habits. Nothing recorded in India except that in one instance
in Manipur the birds were in a party of 8 to 10.
voice and calls. Described of captive birds as exactly like the loud
clucking of a hen.
BREEDING. Extralimital.
Museum Diagnosis. Apart from larger size, female differs from female crecca by
an appreciably broader bill (150-f mm. v. 140— mm. at widest point near tip).
Lower back and rump nearly uniform grey-brown, a little darker on the shafts,
v. very dark brown, each feather conspicuously margined greyish or buffish
in crecca . Wing speculum in both very similar but tippings of greater secondary
coverts narrower and rufous-buff throughout v. broader and white, only tinged
with buff posteriorly in crecca . For details of plumage see Baker, loc. cit.
MEASUREMENTS
Wing Bill Tarsus Tail
(from feathers)
<?9 203-219 33-38 c. 31-35 86-95 mm.
colours OF bare parts. Iris brown, red-brown, or chestnut-brown. Bill dark
bluish to slaty black or black. Legs and feet pale plumbeous or slaty blue (Baker).
96. Grey, Andaman or Oceanic Teal. Anas gibberifrons albogularis
(Hume)
Mareca albogularis Hume, 1873, Stray Feathers, 1 : 303 (Andamans)
Baker, FBI No. 2273, Vol. 6: 435
Plate 8, Eg. 7, facing p. 160
local names. Unrecorded.
156 ANSERIFORMES
size. Half grown domestic duck ± ; Common Teal -f. Length c. 43 cm.
(17 in.).
FIELD CHARACTERS.
Male (breeding). Above , dark (almost chocolate) brown, the feathers
edged greyish producing a scaly or scalloped effect. Throat, foreneck, and
a varying area encircling eye white, this colour sometimes extending to
entire face. Wings brown with a green and black speculum bordered in
front and behind by whitish bands, the former broad and conspicuous.
Below , buffy grey spotted with dark brown.
Female differs only in beng slightly duller coloured with less distinct
centres to the feathers. The green of the speculum more coppery.
‘ The broad white wing-bar is most conspicuous in flight * (Butler, JBNHS
11:333).
Young (immature). Like female but dusky markings on lower plumage
less distinct, and white eye-ring narrower and more fulvous.
status, distribution and habitat. Endemic in the Andaman group of
islands (Landfall, Coco, Great Coco, and others). Nomadic, and on many
islands apparently only a winter visitor. Affects outlying freshwater jheels
and swamps; also tidal creeks and salt water.
general habits. Less common than the two Whistling Teals. Keeps in
flocks of twenty or thirty, feeding chiefly at night by walking about and
grubbing in wet paddyfields like Common Teal. Spends much of the day
roosting perched up amongst the mangrove trees or on rocks exposed at
low tide. The flocks break up into small parties and pairs as the breeding
season approaches.
food. Chiefly vegetarian — tender shoots of crops, grain, etc. Probably
also insects, worms, crustaceans, etc.
voice. A soft whistle. Also described as having a low quacking call-note.
breeding. Season , the only dependable record (Osmaston, JBNHS
17: 491) is of a nest containing ten nearly fresh eggs on August 4. Nest, in
a natural hollow high up in lofty dead tree-trunks, usually inaccessible.
Eggs, normal clutch? Long, elliptical, cream-coloured ovals. Average size
of 10 eggs 49-0 X 36*3 mm. (Baker). Incubation period, share of the sexes
in the domestic chores, etc. not recorded.
Museum Diagnosis. The northern Andamans population was hitherto designated
as a separate race — A . g. leucopareus Fleming — on account of larger extent
of white on face and neck. This is now shown to be a case of partial albinism
probably caused by loo much inbreeding, and the race is currently considered
untenable.
MEASUREMENTS
Wing Bill Tarsus Tail
<?(? 199-205 34-36 35-37 79-81 mm.
9 9 197-205 34-35 — —
(Delacour)
Weight c. 425 gm.
colours of bare parts. Iris reddish brown or red. Bill greenish blue, plumbeous-
blue, or plumbeous with the nail black; in some examples lower mandible
variously tinged with pink. Legs and feet dark greenish or plumbeous; daws
black.
157
DUCKS, GEESE, SWANS
Anas poecilorhyncha J. R. Forster
Key to the Subspecies
Page
A No white band posterior to the speculum A . p. zonorhyncha 159
B A broad white band posterior to the speculum 1
1 A red spot on each side of base of bill A. p. poecilorhyncha 1 57
No red spots on bill A, p. haringtoni 159
97. SpotbiU Duck. Anas poecilorhyncha poecilorhyncha J. R. Forster
Anas poecilorhyncha J. R. Forster, 1781, Indian Zool. : 23, pi. 13, f. 1 (Ceylon)
Baker, FBI No. 2265, Vol. 6: 421
local names. Gdrm paiy Gugral (Hindi) ; Hdnjdr (Sind) ; Ldddim (Mirshikars,
Bihar) ; Ndddun (Nepal terai) ; Kara (Manipur) ; Bor mtigki bans (Assam).
size. Domestic duck; length c . 61 cm. (24 in.).
field characters. A large duck of scaly-patterned buffy grey and
dark brown plumage. Narrowly black-and-white margined metallic green
wing speculum, bordered above (posteri-
orly) by a broad pure white bar particularly
conspicuous in flight. Bright coral-red legs,
yellow-tipped dark bill, and two swollen
orange-red spots at its base on either side of
forehead, are further diagnostic clues.
Female slightly smaller and duller than male; but conclusive sex
differentiation possible only on voice (q.v.).
Young (immature). Like adult but paler, less spotted below, and with
no red spots at base of bill.
status, distribution and habitat. Resident, nomadic, and locally
migratory. Common and widely though capriciously distributed, and
nowhere really abundant. Throughout the Indian subcontinent, locally
up to Cn 1200 m. elevation, east of the lower Indus river (occasionally
Baluchistan), and Kashmir (to c. 1800 m.) to western Assam. South to
Mysore, and occasionally Ceylon. Frequents reedy and vegetation-covered
jheels, shallow irrigation tanks, etc. Rarely also on rivers.
A flock of over 200 (subspecies?) reported on Neill Island, Andamans
Group (E, G, Silas, in epist March 1960), but its occurrence there needs
confirmation.
GENERA*, habits. Very similar to the Mallard, usually seen in pairs,
family parties, or moderate sized flocks. A strong flier but less quick in
take-off than the Mallard, rising less abruptly and vertically. Prized by
sportsmen as much for its sporting qualities as for excellence as a table bird.
A nonliving duck, obtaining most of its food by walking about and grubb-
ing on marshland or in wet paddyfields, or by up-ending in shallow water
to reach the bottom mud, tail sticking above the surface and legs kicking
to maintain the vertical stance. But it can dive very effectively to evade
capture when wounded or moulting wing, surfacing only momentarily in a
flash, or with just the bill showing. Often it holds on thus to partially sub-
merged vegetation and remains completely hidden from view.
158 ANSER I FORMES
food. Chiefly vegetarian — shoots, conns, etc, of aquatic plants, seeds
of sedges, grain of wild and cultivated rice, etc. The birds occasionally
do considerable damage to rice crops by trampling down a great deal more
than they eat. Sometimes also water insects, and their larvae, worms, and
molluscs. Among the animal items specifically identified in stomach
contents is the water-snail Vivipara ( bengalmsis ?).
Atws potcllorhyncha
range
voice. Almost indistinguishable from the Mallard’s — a hoarse wheezy
note by the drake, and a loud quack by the duck particularly when suddenly
startled. As a rule very silent.
breeding. Season , not strictly defined. Depending largely on water
conditions, but chiefly July to September /October in north and peninsular
India; November /December in the south. Possibly two broods a year. Not
Ceylon. Nest , a pad of grass and weeds concealed in herbage on the margins
of a tank or swamp; sometimes lined with a small quantity of feathers and
down. Eggs , 6 to 12, normally 7 to 9, greyish buff or greenish white, rather
broad ovals, smooth and fine textured ; very similar to those of the Mallard.
Average size of 100 eggs 56-0 x 42*3 mm. (Baker). Incubation, believed to
commence with last egg, takes about 24 days. The drake’s share in this is
unknown, but he assists the duck in guarding arid leading the ducklings.
Museum Diagnosis. No eclipse plumage in male. Both sexes undergo a post-
nuptial moult when all the wing quills are cast simultaneously, the female sometimes
possibly incubating in this condition (S&lim Ali, JBNHS 44: 219).
Chick (in down). Like Mallard, blackish above with yellow back and wing
markings and underparts, but the black line through eyes a little broader and
blacker (Delacour).
DUCKS, GEESE, SWANS
159
' MEASUREMENTS
Wing Bill Tarsus Tail
260-280 60-65 46-48 120-140 mm,
9 9 250-268 50-55
(Delacour)
Weight (J» 2 lb. 4 oz. to 3 lb. 5 oz. ($, 1230-1500 gm.) — Hume; 9 1 lb.J!2 oz.
— 3 lb* (c. 790-1360 gm.) — Baker.
OQLOvitS of bare farts. Iris light to dark brown. Bill black, the terminal third
or less yellow to orange-yellow or orange, tipped black. A spot at base of bill on
each side of forehead orange-red to coral-red. Legs and feet deep coral-red; claws
black.
98. Burmese Spotbill Duck* Anas poecilorkyncha haringtoni (Oates)
Polianetta haringtoni Oates, 1907, Jour. Bomb. nat. Hist. Soc., 17: 558
(Shan States)
Baker FBI No. 2267, Vol. 6: 423
Plate 4, fig. 10, facing p. 64
local name. Bar mugki hans ( Assamese).
size. Same as 97
FIELD characters. * Similar to the Indian Spotbill, but a little smaller,
the underparts more uniform, less spotty; very small or no red dots on the
base of the bill * (Delacour) . Also with conspicuously white-bordered green
speculum.
Young (immature) and Chick (in down) as in the Indian race.
STATUS, distribution and habitat. Resident. Extreme eastern Assam
(N, Lakhimpur, Dibrugarh).
ExtralimitaL Burma, Shan States, Yunnan.
general habits, food, voice, etc. Similar to those of the Indian
subspecies.
breeding. Two nests, similar to those of the Indian race, recorded from
Lakhimpur by Baker on 6 February and 13 April respectively. In the
Shan States nests have been taken in February, April, June, July, and
November. Eggs , 6 and 14, more or less incubated, have been found in
nests, but normal clutch-size uncertain. Average size of 27 eggs
52-7 X 39-6 mm. (Baker).
Museum Diagnosis
MEASUREMENTS
Wing
Bill
cfcf
245-268
50-57 mm.
99
237-255
— mm. (Delacour)
COLOURS OF BARE parts. As in the Indian race.
An intermediate example between this and zonorhyncha has been recorded from
eastern Assam (1937, JBNHS 39 : 638).
99. Eastern Grey Duck. Anas poecilorkyncha zonorhyncha Swinhoe
Anas zonorhyncha Swinhoe, 1866, Ibis: 394 (Ningpo, China)
Baker, FBI No. 2266, Vol. 6 : 422
size. As No. 97 :±>
160 ANSERIFORMES
field characters. Differs from the Indian Spotbill by duller, less
conspicuously marked plumage with darker practically unspotted under*
parts* and absence of the two red spots at base of culmen. A broad line*
heavily speckled with black* from base of bill to ear-coverts. Supercilium,
chin* cheeks* and throat more contrastingly whitish. Speculum blue (instead
of green) and only narrowly bordered with white. White on secondaries
restricted and much less conspicuous. Nail of bill yellow (z>. black in A . p.
poecilorhyncha ) . Sexes alike; female slightly smaller.
Young (immature) duller than adult.
status* distribution and habitat. Migratory. A frequent straggler in
winter to eastern Assam (Sibsagar dist.) and Manipur. Once also procured
in Bihar (Darbhanga dist.* C. M. Ingiis).
ExtralimitaL Breeds in eastern Siberia, Manchuria* Mongolia* N.
China, Korea, S. Sakhalin, the Kurile Is., and Japan. Winters south to S.
China and Formosa (Peter Scott),
general habits, food, voice, etc. Nothing specifically recorded in
India. Elsewhere said to haunt sea coasts as well as inland waters.
Museum Diagnosis
MEASUREMENTS
Wing Bill
(from feathers)
(fc? 254-276 56-63 mm.
9 9 243-260 —
(Baker, Delacour)
For a male and female from Chinwangtao, E. China, La Touche (1931-34)
gives Wing 282, 9 265 mm.
colours of bare parts. As in the Indian (nominate) race, but nail of bill yellow
and red spots at base lacking.
100. Mallard. Anas platyrhynchos Linnaeus
Anas platyrhynchos Linnaeus, 1758, Syst. Nat., ed. 10, 1: 125 (Sweden)
Baker, FBI No. 2264, Vol. 6: 419
Plate 4, fig. 9, facing p. 64
local names. Nilsir, JVir rugi (Hindi) ; Nilsir (Bengal) ; Lllgeh (Mirshikars, Bihar) ;
Lilg cT, Lilgahi 9 (Nepal); Amrolia hdns, Bonaria pati hdns (Assam); Nimgi, Hirdgi
Nirdgidni 9 (Sind); But, Rdje (Kutch).
size. Domestic duck; length c. 61 cm. (24 in.).
FIELD CHARACTERS.
Male (breeding). Largely grey above and below, finely pencilled and
vcrmiculated with black. Glistening metallic dark green head and neck
separated from chestnut breast by narrow white collar. Rump, tail-coverts,
and two upcurled central tail-feathers black. Speculum metallic purplish
blue bordered in front and behind by narrow black and white bands*
conspicuous in flight. Yellowish green bill ; orange legs.
Female (and male in eclipse plumage). Brown and buff, streaked
and spotted with black. Chin, throat and foreneck plain buff; an irregular
dark line through the eye. Orange legs. Distinguished from the very
(
PLATE 8
1 Ansrt f. buuhyrhynrfms, Pinkfooted (loose CSEt. 2 drnn a. uIbifron\. Whitefromecl Goose (79). 3 Cygnus
r.. jatihowskh. Whistling Swan (85). A Tadmna tadotrn , Common Shekhuk (91). 5 Anas' august itotim,
Marbled Teal (92). 6 Anas fnrmosa , Baikal Teal (95). 7 Twrn g. alboguhius , Grey Teal (96). 8 /bz<o
falcata , Falcated leal (102).
DUCKS* GEESE, S WANS 161
similar g Shoveller* also orange-legged* by bill shape and purple-blue
speculum (u. green)*
x c. i
Young (immature). Like female, but duller and less well marked.
status, distribution and habitat. Breeds in small numbers in Kashmir.
Mainly winter visitor. Apparently no longer so common in northern W.
Pakistan (Bahawalpur) where until c. 1940 at least it often formed 70 to 80
per cent of sportsmen’s seasonal bags of duck. Common in lower Sind*
decreasingly so eastward through U.P., Nepal, Bihar, Bengal, E. Pakistan
to Assam; southward sparingly to rare to about 19°N, in Orissa, Madhya
Pradesh, Gujarat and northern Maharashtra. Exceptional if further south;
no record. Frequents shallow reedy j heels (or dhands) and marshes; rarely
also rivers and ponds.
Extralimital. Throughout the Holarctic Region. In Europe and Asia
breeds from the Arctic Circle south to the Mediterranean and roughly
162
ANSER I FORMES
to latitude 30°N. Winters from southern half of breeding range to N. Africa,
Nile Valley, India, Burma, S. China and Japan. Several small endemic
populations have been described, e.g. from Mexican highlands ( diazi ),
Greenland (conbosckas) , Hawaii Is. ( wyvillima ), Laysan I. (laysanensis) , but
the species is evidently monotypic,
migration. Mallards ringed in W. Pakistan (Manchar lake, Sind;
Jhajja, Bahawalpur) between c . 27° & 30°N. and 68° & 72°E. have been
recovered in the Novosibirsk region of USSR, between r. 52 9 & 56°N. and
67° & 79°E., indicating that a large proportion of our winter visitors are
derived from Siberia. The speed of migratory flight has chewhere been
estimated as c . 80 km. per hour.
general" habits. A typical surface-feeding or dabbling duck, the
ancestor of all our domestic breeds. Gregarious. Keeps in parties and small
flocks of seldom more than a dozen or so ; sometimes up to 40 or 50. Where
persecuted does most of its feeding during the night, flighting at dusk to
outlying inundated paddyfields and marshes, and returning to the daytime
refuge at dawn. Walks with ease dabbling for food on squelchy ground, or
up-ending to rake the bottom mud as it swims in shallow water. The pro-
jecting tail is directed backwards to attain the vertical stance, assisted by a
constant kicking of the legs. It is a swift and powerful flier, capable of rising
almost vertically off the water or land when alarmed. Usually wary and
difficult to circumvent, and excellent for the table; therefore combining all
the requisites of a coveted sporting bird, and eagerly sought by duck hunters.
Though not an underwater feeder, can dive quite effectively to evade
capture when wounded.
Foot of Mallard (A) atid Common Pochard (8) to show difference
in hind toe of surface-feeding and diving ducks
food. Chiefly vegetarian: corms, seeds and shoots of Gramineac and
other aquatic plants, wild and cultivated rice, etc. To a lesser extent also
molluscs, tadpoles, fish spawn, worms, etc.
voice and calls. Of drake a wheezy 4 scraping * ; of duck a loud rather
explosive quack when suddenly alarmed and flying off. Also a loud quack *
quack-quack-quack-quack, the first quack very loud, the others decreasiitgly
DUCKS, GEESE, S^VANS 163
*o but quicker repeated. This is uttered as a call-note and can be effectively
imitated by hunters to decoy the birds. The female ( ?) also gives a series of
rapid tuckata-tutkala-tuckata notes signifying satisfaction on discovering
food.
breeding. Bates & Lowther (1952), have shown that Major Cock’s
account in Hume & Oates (1889^90) of ‘boatloads’ of Mallard eggs
from the Kashmir lakes being brought to Srinagar market for sale toaS a
palpable exaggeration. At the present time only very small numbers breed
on Hokarsar, Anchar, and other lakes in the Kashmir Valley. Season , late
April, May and June. Nest , a bed of dry grass, rush leaves, and a quantity Of
the bird’s own (blackish) down ; sometimes bulky and rimmed with a thick
well-felted layer of down, at others without any. Placed on the ground in
thick cover of sedges, grass, and bushes on the edge of a lake or some distance
from water. Eggs , 6 to 10, long ovals, more or less equal at both ends.
Normally greenish grey, sometimes pale dull yellowish stone or pale buff;
close-textured, smooth-surfaced, with a slight gloss. Average size of 100
Indian eggs 56*6 X 40*3 mm. (Baker). Only the female incubates. Incu-
bation period 26 days (Witherby, q.v. also for courtship display and other
details of breeding biology).
Museum Diagnosis. For details of plumages, etc. sec Witherby 1 939, 3 : 236-9.
Chick (in down). ‘Blackish brown above, with yellow face, underparts, and
spots on the back and wings ; a dark line through the eyes and shorter ones or spots
on the ears; sometimes a small dark streak at the base of the bill ’ [Delacour 1956,
2: 42; 70 (plate)].
MEASUREMENTS
Wing
Bill
Tarsus
Tail
cfcT
266-292
(from feathers)
50-57 \
c. 40-45
80-97 mm.
9 9
232-276
44-55 /
(Baker)
Weight 2 lb, 8 oz. to 4 lb. (t. 1 135 -1800 gm.); $ 1 lb. 10 oz. to 2 lb. 10 oz.
Or. 735-1195 gm.) — Hume & Marshall,
colours of bare parts. Iris brown. Bill dull olive-yellow, or dingy green, the
base and gape yellower or orange; nail black. Legs and feet orange-yellow to coral-
red ; claws black.
miscellaneous. Flight speeds: cruising 48; chased 64-80 km.p.h.
(Sprunt & Zim).
101. Gad wall. Anas strepera strepera Linnaeus
Anas strepera Linnaeus, 1758, Syst. Nat., ed. 10, 1 : 125 (Sweden)
Baker, FBI No. 2269, Vol. 6: 426
Plate l f fig. 2, facing p. 16
local names. Myla, Bhudr , Beyhhur (Hindi) ; Peeing hdtts (Bengal) ; Myle (Mirshikars
of Bihar; Nepal) ; Burd, Budri, Btihdr (Sind) ; Saru miigi hdns (Assam) ; Thoidingnam
( s» * sesamum-flavoured ’, Manipur).
size. Domestic Duck—; length c* 51 cm. (20 in.),
FIELD CHARACTERS.
164 ANSEm FORMES
Male (breeding). General effect dark brown and grey, with whitish
belly and very black tail end (black upper and under tail-coverts). Dark
and light crescentic markings on breast almost
forming a pectoral band. A glistening white patch
(secondaries) on trailing edge of wing broadly
bordered anteriorly with black (middle second-
aries), and a chestnut patch (lesser wing-coverts)
very conspicuous in flight. At rest the chestnut
patch with the black-and-white speculum is a
Male in eclipse. Like female, but greyer and less heavily marked above.
Female (adult). A duller and smaller edition of female Mallard,
dark brown mottled with buff, with the chestnut on wing obsolete. Also
with orange-yellow legs. Diagnosed in flight by white wing-mirror as in
drake; at rest, when this often concealed, by smaller size, slighter build,
and absence of Mallard’s metallic speculum.
Young (immature). Male similar to drake in eclipse. Female like adult
duck but with wings less bright coloured.
status, distribution and habitat. One of our commonest wintering
ducks. Both Pakistans, Nepal, all India, lessening progressively southward.
Rare in S. India; only a single record in Ceylon. Affects reedy marshes
and jheels, large and small, with plenty of cover; open water-spread of
dammed reservoirs only occasionally as daytime refuges.
Extralimitai . Europe, Asia, and western North America. In Eurasia
breeding from Iceland to Kamchatka, south to England, Holland, Germany,
central Russia, Caspian, Scistan, Transbaikalia. Wintering south to northern
Africa, Ethiopia, S. China.
Anas streper*
x c.i
diagnostic pointer.
165
DUCKS, GEESE, SWANS
migration. Gadwall ringed in W. Pakistan, on the Manchar lake, r.
26°N., 68°E., have been recovered in USSR chiefly between 50° and 60°N.
lat and 60° and 80°E. long, in die Omsk region of Novosibirsk, therefore
almost due N., at straight-line distances of over 3000 km.
general habits. Very similar to Mallard, and typical of the surface-
feeding or dabbling ducks. Gregarious and predominantly vegetarian.
Usually keeps in small flocks of 10 to 30 birds or so. Feeds by walking about
and dabbling on marshland or in squelchy paddyfields, or by up-ending in
shallow water to rake the bottom mud. Sometimes also dives for food, and
can do so very effectively when wounded and evading capture. Flight swift,
with rapid strokes of the pointed wings producing a low whistling sound.
A highly prized sporting bird, ranking with mallard and pintail amongst
the finest for the table. Also one of our most abundant migratory ducks,
usually well represented in duck hunters’ bags in northern India.
food. Chiefly seeds, shoots, and tubers of marsh plants and aquatic
weeds, and grains of wild and cultivated rice. Occasionally insects, worms,
molluscs, etc.
voice. In both sexes very mallard-like. The quack of the duck is some-
what less loud. * The male has a soft, breathy call and a raucous, croaking
note u oe ” often repeated, and followed by a sharp whistle, used in display ’
(Delacour).
breeding. Extralimital. J Vest like Mallard’s, on ground, near water.
Eggs, *7 to 15, usually 8-12, creamy buff like those of the Wigeons, 54 x
36 mm.; incubation 25-26 days’ (Delacour).
Museum Diagnosis. For detailed description of plumages see Witherby 1939,
3:242-4.
MEASUREMENTS
Wing Bill Tarsus Tail
(from feathers)
c^d 1 270-285 ■%
> c. 48-54 c. 36-40 r. 82-98 mm.
9 9 220-256 J
Weight c? 1 lb. 8 oz. to 2 lb. 4 oz. (c. 575-1025 gm.); 9 1 lb. to 1 lb. 12 oz. u.
450-800 gm.).
(Baker)
colours of bare farts. Iris dark brown. Upper mandible dark slaty brown;
lower mandible paler and yellowish or reddish underneath. Legs and feet yellow,
brownish yellow to dull orange; claws black.
miscellaneous. Flight speed: cruising 29 m. (r. 47 km.) p.h. (Sprunt
& 23m).
102. Falcated or Bronzecapped Teal. Anas falcata Georgi
Anas f abate Georgi, 1775, Bemcrk. Reise Russ. Reich, 1: 167 (Asiatic Russia)
Baker, FBI No. 2268, Vol. 6: 424
Plate 8, fig. 8, facing p. 160
LOCAL name. Kdld sinkhur (?) (Uttar Pradesh).
size. Domestic duck — ; Gadwall ±; length r, 51 cm. (20 in.).
166
AN SERI FORMES
FIELD CHARACTERS.
Male (breeding) strikingly peculiar and beautiful. Head metallic
bronzy green and chestnut-purplish, with a bushy mane-like nuchal crest
falling over hindneck, resting on back and giving the impression of a thick
neck. Throat and foreneck white with a narrow green collar near base.
General aspect of body plumage grey, wavily pencilled with black and
resembling Gad wall's, the markings bolder and more crescentic on breast.
Speculum glossy black and green, bordered in front by a grey band (wing-
coverts). Inner secondaries very long, sickle-shaped (falcated) — velvety
black, white, and grey — covering hind part of body and tail. Upper
tail-coverts black, overtopping tail.
Female (adult). Very like female Gadwall, but wing mostly grey
with black-and-green ( v . white) speculum, a short nuchal crest, and grey
(not yellow) legs.
x c. *
Young (immature). Like the female; males more finely vermiculated.
status, distribution and habitat. Rare but not infrequent winter
straggler to Assam (Lakhimpur, Sibsagar, Nowgong, Kamrup, Sylhet
districts; Surma Valley), and Manipur. Vagrants recorded in Bihar (Tirhut,
Patna, Darbhanga districts), Uttar Pradesh (Lucknow, Roorkee districts),
Delhi, Punjab (Jhelum, Karnal districts), West Pakistan (Sind, Bahawalpur),
Gujarat (Kutch dist.). Females in hunters 5 bags sometimes possibly mis-
identified as Gadwall.
Extralimital . Breeds in N. Asia, south of the Arctic Circle from the
upper Yenisey to Kamchatka, south to Lake Baikal, N. Mongolia, the
Amur and Ussuriland. Winters in Japan, Korea, E. and S. China to Upper
Burma (Peter Scott).
general habits. Nothing specifically recorded in India except that it
occurs singly or in pairs on jheels in Assam usually in company with Gadwall
(M. J. S. Mackenzie). Once shot from a party of 15 (? mixed species).
In Bight said to resemble Common Teal with the same swishing sound of
wings.
food. Mainly vegetarian.
voice. Unrecorded in India. The male’s described elsewhere as a loud
piercing whistle ; also a low chuckling as of Mallard drake when swimming
about. The female’s as a quack like Gadwall duck’s.
breeding. Extralimital. Nest. Compactly built of reeds and rushes
thickly lined with down. Eggs. * Six to ten, 56 x 40 mm., creamy white;
incubation 24-25 days * (Delacour).
DUCKS, GEESE, SWANS 167
Anas fatcata
Museum Diagnosis. Upper and lower tail-coverts in both sexes very long, extend-
ing beyond the tips of the rectrices. Female confusingly like female Gadwall except
for colour of legs, and chiefly the different wing speculum.
In female Gadwall entire visible portions of inner secondaries pure white, terminal
portions of their larger coverts black; in female falcata visible portions of all inner
secondaries black (with a metallic green reflection'! narrowly tipped with white,
and terminal portions of their greater coverts white.
For detailed description of plumage sec Baker, loc. cit.
MEASUREMENTS
Wing Bill Tarsus Tail
230-242 40-42 37 — 40 82-85 mm.
$ 9 225-235 38-40 —
(Delacour)
colours of bare parts. Iris dark brown. Bill black. Legs and feet drab, olive-
grey, or olive-brown; webs and toes black.
103. Wigeon. Anas penelope Linnaeus
Anas penelope Linnaeus, 1758, Syst. Nat., ed. 10, 1: 126 (Sweden)
Baker FBI No. 2270, Vol. 6: 429
Plate 1, fig. 1, facing p. 16
local names. Peasan, P atari, Pharia, Chhota lalstr (Hindi) ; Chhota l&lsir (Bengal) ;
Atom (Mirshikars, Bihar) ; Cheyun (Nepal); Pharao (Sind; Gujarat, Nal Sarovar);
Khaltriya kunda (Assam); Thdnggongmal ( « 4 like the Brahminy referring to the
drake’s ruddy head, Manipur).
size. Domestic duck — ; Gadwall — ; length c. 49 cm. (19 in.).
168
ANSER IFOR MBS
FIELD CHARACTERS.
Male (breeding). General aspect pencilled grey. Head and neck chestnut
or bright rusty red with a distinctive cream coloured patch on forecrown.
Vinous breast, black tail-coverts, a large horizontal
white bar on closed wing (coverts), finely black*
bordered metallic green speculum* and small
narrow blue-grey bill are further diagnostic clues.
In flight the broad white shoulder patch near
leading edge of wing (coverts), and the buff
x c- i 4 bald * forecrown are conspicuous pointers.
Male (in eclipse). Above , reddish brown, marked and vermiculatcd
with black; below , chiefly white.
Female (adult). Similar to male in eclipse 'but much duller, less
reddish brown, the dark vermiculations less coarse, the lesser wing-coverts
grey. There are two colour phases, one redder the other greyer * (Delacour) .
Amu penetope
| Breeding fv/rO-J Non-breeding
Differentiated from rather similar female Gadwall by more rufous
plumage and metallic green speculum v. contrasty white and black.
status, distribution and habitat. Winter visitor. Common in
Sind and northern India, where locally very abundant. Less common
in peninsular and eastern India generally, but in some years very numerous
in W. Bengal, E. Pakistan, Assam, and Manipur, and usually so on Chilka
lake (Orissa). Sparse and irregular in Ceylon. Observed in Nepal Valley
and central Nepal in winter, and on the high altitude lakes (c. 5030 to
5330 m.) in eastern Nepal in May and June presumably on northward
passage. Frequents shallow reedy jheels and marshes. Small flocks occa*
sionally also on salt-water creeks and mangrove swamps, c.g. on the Sind
coast.
169
DUCKS, GEESE, SWANS
ExtralimitaL * Europe arid Asia, breeding in temperate regions north
to the Arctic Circle and beyond, from Iceland and Scotland to Kamchatka.
Winters in Britain and south to the Nile Valley. Abyssinia, India, S. China
and Japan * (Peter Scott).
migration. Wigeon ringed during winter in Sind (Manchar lake,
\C. 26°N., 68°E.) and in central India (Dhar, c . 23°N., 76°E.) have been
recovered in summer in Siberia between c . 55° & 58°N. and 66° & 85°E.
One of these was a female accompanied by ducklings, and another a male
in post-nuptial moult and flightless, indicating that they were on their
breeding grounds and thus disclosing the provenance of possibly the majority
of our winter migrants.
general habits. Gregarious; sometimes in very large flocks. Like
other non-diving ducks feeds by walking about and grazing or grubbing on
grassy edges of jhecls and in squeichy paddyfields, or by up-ending in
shallow water. Swift on the wing, but perhaps less so than Teal, rising
abruptly off the water on alarm and quickly climbing well out of gunshot.
Flies in compact flocks or irregular lines with a distinctive rustling sound.
Provides good sport to the duck hunter and is excellent for the table. Dives
effectively to evade capture when only winged.
food. Chiefly vegetarian : corms, seeds, and shoots of marsh and aquatic
plants, and wild and cultivated rice. Also water insects and their larvae,
molluscs, etc.
voice and calls. Of male a distinctive musical piping whistle whee-oo>
uttered both on the wing and from the ground or water. Of female a short
quack, also described as a ‘ purring growl \
breeding. ExtralimitaL Nest , of matted grass, reeds, etc. with a thick
bed of down for the eggs, hidden in undergrowth usually close to water.
Eggs. 1 7 to 12, buffy cream, 54 X 35 mm. on an average; incubation
24 to 25 days ’ (Deiacour),
Museum Diagnosis
measurements
Wing
(?(? 254 273
9 9 233-256
Weight <5* l lb. 5 oz. to 1 lb. 10 oz, (e. 590-735 gm.); 9 1 lb. 3 oz. to 1 lb. 10 oz.
(tf. 535-735 gm.).
colours of bare parts. Iris brown or red-brown. Bill grey-blue, livid blue,
or slate-blue; tip black. Legs plumbeous tinged with grey or green; joints and
webs darker; claws blackish.
Bill
(from feathers)
Tarsus
Tail
c. 31-35
c . 35-40
c. 95 -110 mm.
(Baker)
104. Gargaxtey or Blitewinged Teal. Anas querquedula Linnaeus
Anas querquedula Linnaeus, 1758, Syst, Nat., ed. 10, 1: 126 (Sweden)
Baker, FBI No. 2275, Vol. 6: 439
Plate 1, fig. 5, facing p. 16
local names. Chdita, Khira , Patari (Hindi) ; Ghang mb , Giria hms (Bengal) ;
Ghila hdns (Assam) ; Char ho, Kardo , Kdraro (Sind) ; Kardio (Gujarat, Nal Sarovar) ;
Gendu (Orissa — most duck) ; Surit angouba (= * white teal *, Manipur).
170
ANSER I FORMES
size* Domestic duck — ; length c . 41 cm. (16 in.).
FIELD CHARACTERS.
Male (breeding). Above, head and neck pinky brown streaked with white,
and with conspicuous broad white eyebrows. Upperparts blackish brown,
scalloped paler. Scapulars long, lanceolate, glossy
black, with a broad white median stripe. Wing
shoulders (coverts) bluish grey. Speculum green,
between two white bands. Below , breast light
brown, speckled with black. Rest of underparts
white, finely waved on sides and spotted near
vent (tail-coverts) with black.
Male (in eclipse), like female, but with fully coloured c? wing.
Young male (immature). Like female but darker, with browner under-
parts, and better defined speculum.
Female (adult). Above , head brown with conspicuous whitish eyebrows,
white throat, and a distinct dark line from bill through eye to nape. Rest
of upperparts dark brown, scalloped paler. Wing shoulders (coverts)
greyish brown. Speculum as in male but rather obscure and the green
more olive. Below , upper breast and near vent brownish with darker spots;
rest of underparts white. May be confused with female Common Teal
(q.v.), but speculum green and white v . tricoloured black, green and buff,
and throat unmarked whitish v. brown-speckled, are diagnostic pointers,
status, distribution and habitat. One of our commonest and most
widespread migratory ducks. Perhaps the earliest to arrive in its winter
quarters, and certainly one of the last to leave, small parties occasionally
being seen till well into May. All India, both Pakistans, Nepal, Ceylon.
* c* i
Anas guerquedula
| Breeding Non-breeding
171
DUCKS, GEESE, SWANS
Frequents every type of water large and small — jhcels, marshes, village
tanks, coastal backwaters and lagoons (e.g. in Kerala), the last chiefly as
daytime refuges from which to forage in outlying paddyfields during the
night
migration. Meinertzhagen came across a party of Garganeys on
migration at Khardong in Ladakh (4100 m.) as early as 30 July, showing
that autumn passage of duck may take place across very high parts of
the Himalayas, It is rarely witnessed in daytime unless the birds are forced
to the ground by heavy clouds as on this occasion. In NW. India autumn
passage is usually in evidence in August, and fair numbers of birds are
already in by mid-September, c.g. in Rajasthan (Keoladeo Ghana, Bharat-
pur). Recoveries of ringed Garganeys in India and the USSR indicate
that our visitors are derived from a very extensive northern area, between
latitudes 51° & 60°N. and longitudes 30° & 82°E. The most spectacular
records so far are of a Bharatpur bird recovered in the Kiev region of
the USSR (at 51°19'N., 30°14'E.) and of one ringed in the Leningrad
area (60°30'N., 32°50'E.) shot in Maharashtra (Sangli dist., c. 17°N.,
75°E.). The straight-line distances on the map between the points of ring-
ing and recovery are c, 5000 and c. 6500 km. respectively, the actual air
distance of course being considerably greater.
general habits. Gregarious; non-diving, though like most surface-
feeders can dive very effectively to evade capture when wounded. Feeds
by walking about and grubbing in marshland and swampy paddyfields, or
by up-ending in shallow water. Largely a nocturnal feeder where perse-
cuted, as this and other duck species invariably are. Enormous mixed
congregations of tens of thousands of duck and teal collect in certain daytime
refuges in winter, e.g. on the Vembanad backwaters in Kerala, and just
before northward emigration in March, c.g. on the extensive marsh at the
mouth of the Banas river in the Little Rann of Kutch. Garganeys predo-
minate among these. Flight very swift, with less turning and twisting than
the Common Teal, in close-packed flocks. Overhead the wings produce a
characteristic swishing hiss by which experienced sportsmen can identify
the species even in the dark.
food. Mainly vegetarian; seeds and tender shoots of marsh plants,
grasses and sedges, and grains of wild and cultivated rice. Also some animal
matter: water insects, larvae, worms, molluscs, etc. Shells of Planorbis sp.
and Melania tuberculata have been identified among stomach contents in
India.
voice. Usually very silent. Hume mentions a loud strident quack
apparently common to both sexes; seldom uttered. A harsh grating Ar-r-r by
mate in breeding season; also heard just before emigration, likened to a
stick rapidly drawn across wooden palings.
breeding. Extralimital. Nest, a depression in the ground in wet meadows
or grassland, lined with fine grasses and the bird’s own down. Well con-
cealed. Eggs , 7 to 16, usually 8 to 12, creamy buff with a distinct gloss.
Average size of 108 eggs 45*5 x 32-8 mm. (Baker). Incubation 21-23 days
(Delacour).
Museum Diagnosis. For detailed description of plumages see Withcrby 1939,
3: 258-60.
172 A NS ER1 FORMES
MEASUREMENTS
Wing
Bill
(from feathers)
Tarsus
Tail
(ftf 1
187-198
35-40
26-30
62-70 mm.
99
175-194
34-39
—
(Baker)
Weight, c? 10 oz. to 1 lb. (r. 283-453 gm.) commonly c. 13 oz. (c, 370 gm.);
9 9 to J 4 * 75 oz. ( c . 255-425 gm.) commonly c. 12 oz. (c. 340 gm.) — Hume fit
Marshall.
colours of uake parts. Both sexes: Iris dark brown. Bill brownish black; nail
quite black; margins of commissure and gape paler, often reddish. Legs and feet
dark grey.
105. Shoveller. Anas clypeala Linnaeus
Anas dypeata Linnaeus, 1758, Syst. Nat., ed. 10, 1 : 124 (Sweden)
Baker, FBI No. 2276, Vol. 6; 442
Plate 1, fig. 6, facing p. 16
local names. Tuldri, Putidna , Tokdrwdla , Ghirah (Hindi); Panta mukhi , Khunts
hdns (Bengal); Sdnkhdr (Mirshikars, Bihar); Dho baha, Sdnkhdr , Khikeria sdnkhdr
2 (Nepal); Alipdt , Gaino, Lanqfw (Sind); Gaiuo (Gujarat, Nal Sarovar); Phatphaji
(Kuich); Khantiya hdns , JSfak dungara (Assam); Seruwa (SinhaJa); Thdrd (Tamil);
Khdrd (Manipur).
size. Domestic duck — ; length c. 51 cm. (20 in.).
field characters . Both sexes readily diagnosed by broad, shovel -
shaped bill and orange legs.
Male (breeding). Head and neck glossy metallic green (as in Mallard).
Pale blue patch on wing-shoulder (coverts) and a white bar between it and
metallic green speculum, particularly conspicuous in flight. Breast white;
rest of underparts reddish chestnut except two large white patches on
posterior flanks.
Male (in eclipse). Like female but somewhat darker, and largely
retaining bright coloured wing of breeding male.
Female (adult). Mottled dark brown and buff, with greyish-blue
shoulder patch, faint green speculum bordered above and below with white,
and bright orange bill (at base).
Young (immature). Like adult female but with unbarred mantle and
narrowly streaked underparts.
status, distribution and habitat. Common winter visitor, arriving
fairly late (c. October), and also amongst the last to leave (in N. India small
numbers present in May and even till mid-June). All India, both Pakistans,
and Ceylon. Occurs also in Nepal Valley in winter, but more common on
passage in October /November. Affects all types of inland waters: jheels,
irrigation reservoirs, flooded ditches, constantly used village tanks, and
sometimes rivers.
ExtralimitaL Breeds in Europe (commonly in Britain), Asia, and N.
America, not north of the Arctic Circle nor in E. Canada. Winters as far
south as E. Africa, Persian Gulf, Ceylon, Burma, S. China, Japan, Hawaii,
Lower California, Mexico, Honduras, Florida (Peter Scott).
DUCKS, GEESE, SWANS
173
Anot c/y peoto
migration. A Shoveller ringed in Sind (Manchar lake c. 27°N., 68°E.)
was recovered in the Barabinsk district of Siberia, c . 55°N,, 76°E., while
one ringed in the Kazakh SSR at c. 50°30 / N., 69°35'E. was shot near
Delhi c. 29°N., 77°E. These recoveries provide a positive clue to the
general northerly area whence our winter visitors are derived. Some indivi-
duals moult all remiges simultaneously after reaching their winter quarters
in India, becoming completely flightless for a time.
general habits. Usually keeps in small parties in association with
Common and Garganey teals. When feeding, swims slowly with neck and
broad shovel-bill stretched stiffly in front. The lower mandible is fully
immersed furrowing the water while the partially exposed upper skims flat
along jhe surface. The bird thus swims into the minute floating organisms
w r hich are sifted out from the water by the comb-teeth or lamellae fringing
the bill. Sometimes it zigzags along on shallow' w^ater, head fully submerged
to rake up the bottom mud; or up-ends like other surface-feeding ducks.
Flight swift and teal-like, with a distinctive creaking rustic of wings in
rising off the water and in the air. But its flesh is usually rank and un-
palatable, making the bird unattractive to sportsmen from that point of
view,
food. Crustaceans, molluscs, water insects and larvae, fish spawn,
worms, etc. Also a quantity of vegetable matter: shoots and corms of aquatic
weeds, etc.
voice and calls. Rather like Mallard’s but lower and softer; also a low
chuckling quack like Gadwall’s.
I. breeding. Extralimital. Nest> a hollow or depression in the ground in a
meadow, amongst herbage, lined with grasses and down; occasionally in
reed-beds. Eggs, 7 to 16, greenish buff. Average size of 100 eggs 52*2 X
174
ANSERIFORMES
37-0 mm. (Baker). Incubation 23-25 days (Delacour). Layard’s breeding
record for Ceylon (March), when he is said to have caught most of the
twelve ducklings accompanying the female, is uncredible. It has been
omitted by both Whistler (1944) and Phillips (1953).
Museum Diagnosis. For detailed description of plumages, structure, etc. see
Withcrby 1939, 3:
MEASUREMENTS
279-82.
Wing
Bill
(from feathers)
Tarsus
Tail
<?<?
230-262
61—71
r. 32-38
c. 72-86 mm.
9 9
217-238
56-64
—
(Baker)
Weight. 1 lb. 3 oz. to 1 lb. 14 oz. (c. 540-830 gm.); 9 1 lb. to 1 lb" 7 oz.
(c. 450-650 gm.) — Hume.
colours of bare parts. Iris (J 1 yellow, orange, or orangc-red; 9 brown or
orange-brown. Bill c? black or plumbeous black; 9 browner, sometimes tinged
with orange. Legs and feet orange, orange-brown, or orange-red.
miscfxlaneous. Longevity (from ringing data) : c . 20 years. (Ring, 1962,
33: 148). Flight speeds: cruising 40 km.p.h.; chased 80 km.p.h. (Sprunt
& Zim).
Genus Rhodonessa Reichenbach
Rhodonessa Reichenbach, 1853 (1852), Av. Syst. Nat. ix. Type, by original designation,
Anas caryophyllacea Latham
Endemic. Monotypic. Apparently related to Anas more closely v than to any
other duck genus; to some extent maybe also to the Pochards especially the Red-
crested, Netta rufirm , which it resembles both in proportions and in possession of a
similar trachea (see Delacour). Superficially, from the longer and thinner neck,
high position of the eye, and the very gradual slope of the forehead, Tickell bad
earlier considered it more allied to the Whistling Teal (Dendrocygna) than to Anas,
For anatomical details see Humphrey, P. S. and Ripley, S. D., 1962, Postilla> 61:
1-21, suggesting closer affinity to Aythyininae than Anatinae.
175
DUCKS, GEESE, SWANS
106. Finldfteaded Duck. Rhodomssa caryophyllacea (Latham)
Anas caryophyllacea Latham, 1790, Index Orn., 2: 866 (India)
Baker, FBI No. 2249, Vol. 6:390
Plate 9, fig. 1, facing p. 176
local names. Guldb sir , Lai sird (Hindi); Lai sir t Saknal (Bengal); Damrar f
D&mdr (Nepal terai and Tirhut) .
size. Domestic duck; length c . 60 cm. (24 in.).
field characters. Shape and carriage of head and neck reminiscent
of Whistling Teal. Colour pattern unique. #
Male (adult). Brownish black above and below, with the partially
tufted head, hindneck, and bill bright pink — the colour of new blotting
paper. In flight, light pinkish buff speculum and pale shell -pi nk'underwing
(contrasting with dark body) prominent.
x c. $
Female (adult). Overall blackish brown with pale brownish buff
speculum. Head merely suffused witli pink, the pink area less bright and not
sharply demarcated as in male.
Young (immature). 6 Head and neck pale rose-whitish colour, with
the top of the head, nape, and hindneck brown; the whole plumage lighter
brown; the underparts pale dull brown, with the edges of the feathers
whitish’ (Salvadori).
Chick (in down). Unknown.
status, distribution and habitat. Probably extinct. Last authentic
sight record (C. M. Inglis) from Darbhanga, Bihar, June 1935. Apparently
local and nowhere common even during the 170 years since first described;
to some extent locally migratory. Was presumably resident in Assam (‘ Flocks
on several occasions at Nowgong ’ 1921-3, — Higgins, JBNHS 36:417),
Manipur, Bengal, Bihar, and Orissa, but stragglers recorded in winter
sporadically from as far afield as Lucknow (U.P.), Rupar (Arnbala dist.,
Punjab), Delhi, Mhow (M.P.), Jalna (?), Kharidala area (?), Ahmcd-
nagar (Maharashtra), Nellore (Andhra), and Pulicat Lake (Madras).
In its residential range it affected bheels in the Himalayan terai (including
Nepal) and duars, and swampy lowland grass jungles.
Extrdimital . Burma.
general habits. Little recorded except that the birds were shy and
secretive, and seldom seen unless flushed by chance from ponds amongst
tall grass jungle as by a line of elephants during tiger hunts. Usually small
parties of up to 6 or 8 when not paired for breeding, but flocks of up to
30 and even 40 have been recorded. Feeding behaviour as of surface-feeding
176 ANSERt FORMES
ducks, e.g. Spotbiil, but capable of diving like a Pochard on occasion.
Sometimes perching on trees.
food. In the gizzard of a specimen were found * half-digested water
weeds and various kinds of small shells' (Shillingford) ; therefore obviously
omnivorous.
voice and calls (recorded in captivity). Of male a wheezy whistle
recalling that of the mallards, but lower and weaker; of female a low quack
(Delacour).
Rhodonessa caryophytlacea
breeding. An anonymous writer in the defunct Asian Sporting Newspaper
of 17 August 1880 (probably Shillingford) mentions taking its eggs in
Pumea (Bihar) in June/July. Nest described as circular, well built of dry
grass and a few feathers, without special lining. Diameter c. 9 inches
(c. 23 cm.), depth 4~5 inches ( c . 10-13 cm.) with wall 3-4 inches thick
( c . 7-10 cm.). On ground, well hidden amidst tufts of tall grass, generally
not more than c. 500 yards from water. Eggs , 5 to 10, ivory white, spherical,
quite unlike those of other ducks in shape. Average size of 8 eggs from
two different nests c. 44 x 41 mm. Two very round ones measured c . 43 X
42 mm. Both birds were flushed near a nest, so uncertain whether both
sexes, or which, incubates, Shillingford has further described very realistic
injury-feigning by a female to draw off intruders from the vicinity of young
(or nest?).
Museum Diagnosis. For details of plumage see Baker, loc. cit.
MEASUREMENTS
Wing
Bill
Tarsus
Tail
250-282
(from feathers)
50-56
40
100-181 mm*
9 9
246-260
—
—
— ,
PLATE <)
1 Rhodonessa caryophvllmea, Pinkheudrd Duck (lOfp. 2 Nvtta rufma , Rcdcrestcd Pochard (107). 3 Ai\
galeriadata , Mandarin Duck (1 13>. 4 Aythya mania , Scaup Duck (112). 5 Clangula hytmtihs, Longtail or
Old Squaw Duck (117). (> Burephah r. c languid, Goldeneye Duck (118). 7 Magus albfllus. Smew
(119), 8 Mergus senatut, Redbreasird Merganser (122). 9 Oxrura leuioce filial a < Whitchcadcd Siitf'tailed
Duck (123).
DUCKS, GEESE, SWANS 177
Weight 1 lb, 12 oz, to 2 lb. 3 oz. (c. 793-990 gm.) — Shillingford. 1<J» 3 lb,;
19 3 lb. (tf, 1,360 gm.) — Inglis.
colours of Rare parts. d 1 Iris light red or orange-red. Eyelids flesh-coloured.
Bill dull to bright reddish pink or deep rose-colour, darker on ridge of culmen and
gonys, brighter and purer pink on nail and at base of both mandibles. Legs and feet
reddish black. In 9 colours same but duller.
miscellaneous. An inventory recently made of all specimens of the
Pinkheaded Duck preserved in the major ornithological collections of
Europe, Asia, and N. America revealed that there are probably not more
than 80 skins in existence ail told, excluding China whence information was
unavailable. The oldest of these js dated 1825 (Paris Museum). The paucity
of museum skins of this unique and much sought species may be taken as
a measure of its rarity even in the last century when no considerations of
conscience or conservation could have restrained the collectors* zeal.
(Salim Aii, 1960, Wilctfowl Trust 1 \lh Annual Report , 1958-9, pp. 55-60.)
Genus Netta Kaup
Netta Kaup, 1829, Skizz. Entw.-Gesch. Eur. Thierw. : 102. Type, by monotypy.
Anas rujina Fallas
Bill long, slightly tapering, very little raised at base; culmen nearly straight.
Nostrils placed rather less than one-third length from base. Lamellae broad, pro-
minent, and set rather far apart. Feathering at base of bill ending abruptly in a
straight line almost at right angles to commissure. Feet large but less so than in
true pochards [Ay thy a ) ; hind toe broadly lobed. Wing comparatively short, pointed,
and set far back on the body. Tail of sixteen feathers, short, cuneatc. Sexes dimorphic.
Male with a full bushy crest.
The species N. rufina occurs in temperate Europe, Asia, and N. Africa.
107. Redcrested Pochard. Netta rufina (Fallas)
Anas rujina Pallas, 1773, Reise Russ. Reich, 2; 713 (Caspian Sea)
Baker, FBI No. 2278, Vol 6:448
Plate 9, fig. 2; facing p. 176
LOCAL names. Ldl cfionch, Lai sir (Hindi); Bad a rdngamuri, Hero hdns 0% Qiobra
hdns 9 (Bengal); Doommer (Mirshikars, Bihar); Dumar Sdnwa 9 (Nepal);
Batsha Rutdbo (Sind); Raiobari (Gujarat, Nal Saiovar); Deo hdns (Assam); Irupi
( =2 * diver * — all pochards, Manipur).
size. Domestic duck — ; length c. 54 cm. (21 in.).
FIELD CHARACTERS.
Male (breeding). Head and silky mop-like crest chestnut and golden
orange, with bright crimson bill. Above , body light brown, with white patches
on shoulders, and white wing-mirror. Below,
black, the flanks conspicuously white. In flight,
red head and bill, black body, white flanks,
white underside of wings with a white bar on the
trailing edges are revealing dues.
Has frequently been mtsideruified as Pinkhead-
ed Duck (both called Dumar in Bihar and Nepal!)
but golden orange head (v. bright rose-pink),
brownish black underparts with large white
patches on flanks (v. all-black) are diagnostic. Furthermore, being largely
12
178 AN SERI FORMES
a diving duck, it more likely to be seen on deepish open water while
Pinkhcad on wooded jheels, forest pools and swamps.
Male (in eclipse). Like female but browner on underparts and retain-
ing bushy crest and bright-coloured eyes, bill, and feet.
Female (adult). Above , dull sooty brown with dark brown (slightly
mopped) crown, and nape, sharply demarcated from whitish (pale grey)
face and forcneck. Below > excepting breast largely whitish.
Young (immature). Like female, the male browner and darker with
dark brown centres to the underparts, and bushier head than in female.
status, distribution and habitat. Winter visitor; arrives about October
and mostly gone by mid-March. Common and locally abundant especially
in West Pakistan and NW. India (recorded in Nepal Valley) decreasingly
so eastward (rare in Assam) ; south to about the 20th parallel. Less common
in the Peninsula, to Madras where fairly plentiful in some years. Not
recorded further south in Mysore or Kerala, or for certain in Ceylon.
Affects large jheels and reservoirs with plenty of submerged vegetation.
ExtralimitaL Breeds from southern France, Holland, through lower
Danube, S. Russia east across Kirghiz steppes to W. Siberia. Winters in the
Mediterranean region ; Burma, Shan States to China.
Nidi ntfina
migration. Ringing records suggest that our wintering birds are derived
from a very widespread northern area. Two examples ringed in West
Pakistan (Larkana district and Bahawalpur) were recovered respectively in
Russian Turkestan (at 37°21'N., 66°20'E.) and near Lake Baikal in.
Siberia (c. 55°N., 105*E.).
general habits. Keeps more to fairly deep open water than to reedy
marginal shallows, and obtains its food chiefly by diving, sometimes remain-
ing submerged for many seconds and surfacing again with a peculiar abrupt
179
DUCKS, GEESE, SWANS
spring or pop-up. Often also up-ends in shallow water, like surface-feeding
ducks, to reach the bottom mud and weeds. Occasionally walks about and
grazes on marshy edges of jheels. Usually shy and wary, quick to take alarm,
flying high and keeping well out of gunshot. The palatability of its flesh
varies according to the diet on which it has been chiefly subsisting.
food. Largely vegetarian : shoots, buds, rhizomes and seeds of aquatic
weeds and grasses, e.g. Sagittarius . Also water insects, molluscs, tadpoles,
etc. Hume records one that had gorged itself on fish about an inch in length.
voice. Very silent in winter. No calls recorded. In breeding male
described as a * hard wheeze, harsher than the Mallard’s ’ (Delacour).
breeding. Extralimital. Nest, of reeds, rushes and grass thickly lined
with down, placed among herbage at edge of swamps, etc. Eggs, 7 to 1 2 or 14,
pale olive-grey. Average size of 90 eggs 57*8 x 42-4 mm. (Baker).
Museum Diagnosis. For details of plumages etc. sec Witherby 1939, 3:284-5
* When freshly shot the flanks and lesser coverts have a most beautiful salmon-pink
tinge which, however, quickly fades * (Ticehurst).
Chick (in down). See Delacour 1959, 3: 49 (description), 140 (plate).
MEASUREMENTS
Wing Bill Tarsus Tail
(from feathers)
tfc? 256-282 48-54 \ r. 40-45 r. 60-75 mm.
9 9 241-279 44-51 } (Baker)
Weight. 1 lb. 12 oz. to 2 lb. 14 oz. (c. 795-1305 gm.); 9 1 lb. 10 oz. to 2 lb.
6 oz. (<?. 735-1080 gm.) — Hume.
colours of bare parts. cT Iris bright red. Bill bright red, the nail paler.
[Legs and] feet orange-yellow, more or less tinged with black. 9 Iris reddish
brown, becoming orange-red in spring. Bill greyish black, the edges and tip pale
pink. Legs black, more or less tinged with pink (Delacour).
Genus Aythya Boie
Aythya Boie, 1822 (before May 1), Tagcbuch Rcisc durch Norwegen : 308, 351.
Type, by monotypy, Anas mania Linnaeus
Nyroca Fleming, 1822, Philos. Zool., 2: 260. Type, by tautonymy, Anas nyroca
Guldenstadt
Cf. Sharpe, 1899, Handlist, 1: 222-3. (Aythya, Aristonetta, Fuligula) Ibis, 1939 : 521-2.
Bill of moderate length, rather more raised at the base than in Netta, uniformly
broad throughout its length, or slightly broader at tip. Culmcn slightly concave.
Feathering at base of bill forming a convex line on commissure. Lamellae less
prominent than in Netta, short, and set much further apart. Nostrils as in Netta.
Character of wings, tail, and feet as in that genus, but the last much larger and
placed farther back on the body.
Represented in India by five species, ail migratory.
Key to the Species
A Bill wider at tip than at base 1
1 Head, neck, and breast black a
Head, neck, and breast brown or brownish black b
a Head crested, upperparts blackish A . fuligula (<$*)
Head not crested, upperparts white with black vermiculations . . . .
d. mania (<f )
Page
185
187
180
AN5ER I FORMES
Page
b Wide white band around base of bill A, mania ( 9 ) 187
White band at base of bill indistinct or lacking . . .
. * A . fuligula ( 9 ) 185
B Bill same width at tip and base * 2
2 Wings lacking speculum .c
Wings with white speculum d
c Head and neck chestnut, back and wings pale grey
A> ferina (c?) 180
Head and neck pale rufous, back and wings greyish brown
. A . ferina ( 9 ) 180
d Head, neck, and breast chestnut A. nyroca (c?) 182
Head, neck, and breast dull brown. Chin and throat sometimes
sprinkled with white A. nyroca (9) 182
Head and neck black glossed with green, breast chestnut
A . baeri (tf) 184
Head dark blackish brown with lighter chestnut patch behind bill.
White diamond-shaped spot sometimes present on chin at base of
lower mandible A. baeri (9 ) 184
108. Common Pochard. Aythya ferina (Linnaeus)
Anas ferina Linnaeus, 1758, Syst. Nat., ed. 10, 1 : 126 (Sweden)
Baker, FBI No. 2279, Vol. 6: 450
local names. Burdr ndr , Lai iir (Hindi); Rangd muri , Lai muri (Bengal); Chetm
(Nepal) ; Rangd muriya (Assam) ; Irupi (Manipur) ; Tordndo (Sind) ; Tardndio (Gujarat.
Nal Sarovar); Dhusanda (Kutch).
size. Domestic duck — ; length r. 48 cm. ( c . 18^ in.).
field characters. A rather squat, tubby duck.
Male (breeding). Head and neck chestnut-red. Upper back and breast
black. Rest of upperparts light grey
Bill of adult male from above and
aide, x c. f
finely vermiculated with black. Rump,
upper and under tail-coverts black.
Underparts and sides largely greyish
white. A dull grey speculum on wing,
Male (in eclipse). Head duller;
black of upper back and breast
replaced by brown.
Female (adult). Head, neck,
upper back and breast rufous brown.
Rest of back and scapulars greyish
brown, faintly vermiculated. Lower
parts mostly greyish brown, Buffy
cheeks and throat, a buff mark around
base of bill, and pale blue subterminal
band on bill are further pointers.
In flight absence of white wing-bar
(only inconspicuous dull grey) distin-
guishes both sexes from other poch-
ards, and the female of this species
from females of Scaup and Tufted
Pochard (qq.v.).
DUCKS, GEESE, SWANS Ml
Young (immature). Like female, the male with head more reddish
and paler, and underparts browner.
status, distribution and habitat. Winter visitor, arriving in the north
fairly late (c. mid-October) and mostly gone by end March. Common and
abundant in W. Pakistan and NW. India, and "across, more sparsely, to
Assam, Manipur, and E. Pakistan. Occurs in Nepal; decreasingly southward
in the Peninsula, irregularly to Mysore where not uncommon in some years.
Not recorded farther south, or in Ceylon. Frequents the opener parts of
jheels and irrigation reservoirs with submerged aquatic vegetation.
Extralimital. Breeds in British Isles, S. Scandinavia, and from eastern
Russia through W. Siberia to Lake Baikal, south to Holland, Germany,
Balkans, Black Sea, Kirghiz steppes and Yarkand. Winters in breeding
range and south to Nile Valley; Burma, and S. China (Peter Scott).
migration. Two Common Pochards ringed in Madhya Pradesh (Dhar)
and W. Pakistan (Bahawalpur) respectively, have been recovered in Siberia,
between c . 53° & 55°N. and 76° & 84°E., indicating the provenance of at
least a part of our wintering population.
Aythy* fwina
general habits. One of our commonest diving ducks; sometimes
collecting in flocks and rafts of up to 300 or 400, to very large congregations
of several thousand strong, e.g. on Manchar lake, Sind. Feeds chiefly under
water; therefore usually seen on open expanses in the middle of tanks and
jheels. Largely nocturnal where subjected to disturbance, flighting to its
feeding grounds at dusk and returning to the daytime refuge at dawn.
Swims strongly rather low on the water; walks clumsily on land. Flight
swift with rapid wing-strokes, but take-off rather slow and awkward pre-
ceded by some pattering along surface. Ranked normally amongst the
finest ducks for the table.
182 ANSERIFORMES
food. Largely vegetarian: rhizomes, buds, shoots and seeds of aquatic
plants. Also Crustacea, molluscs, water insects and larvae, worms, and
occasionally tadpoles and small fish,
voice. Very silent in India. Nothing recorded.
breeding. ExtraiimitaL Nest, a cup of flags, rush blades and reeds,
thickly lined with down, placed on the ground among high reeds and
rushes. Eggs, 6 to 14, dull greyish- or olive-drab. Average size of 160 eggs
$0*6 x 42*9 mm. (Baker).
Museum Diagnosis. For details of plumages etc. see Witherby 1939, 3: 289-92.
Chick (in down). See Delacour 1959, 3: 140 (plate).
MEASUREMENTS
Wing
Bill
Tarsus
Tail
(from feathers)
<fcf
2ia-225"J
43-50
c. 35-39
c, 54-76 mm.
99
200-213 J
(Baker)
Weight. & 1 lb. 13 oz. to 2 lb. 5 oz. (*. 822-1052 gm.); 9 1 lb. 5 oz. to 2 lb.
4 oz. (c. 595-1025 gm.) — Hume.
colours of bare parts. Iris yellow or reddish yellow. Bill: base and tip black;
middle portion pale plumbeous-blue to dark slaty blue. Legs and feet variable
slaty blue; webs and joints darker and blackish.
109. White-eyed Pochard or Ferruginous Duck. Aythya nyroca
(Guldenst&dt)
Anas nyroca Giildenstadt, 1770, Novi Comm. Sci. Petropol,, 14: 40S (‘ . . . regionibus
Tanaicensibus inter gradum 54°-55° . . . ’ = S. Russia)
Baker, FBI No. 2280, Vol. 6: 453 (- Nyroca tufa)
local names. Kurchiya , Burdr mddd (Hindi); Lai bigri , Bhuti hdns (Bengal);
Bumu , Burino (Sind); Tamni (Gujarat, Nal Sarovar); Malak (Nepal terai); Kali
rnwri (Assam); Irupi (Manipur).
size. Domestic duck — ; length c . 41 cm. (16 in.).
FIELD CHARACTERS.
Male (breeding). Overall aspect of plumage rich rufous-brown and
blackish brown, with a large white oval patch on belly, white speculum,
and white under tail-coverts. At short range white eye conspicuous.
Male (in eclipse). Head, neck, and breast dull reddish with sandy
borders to feathers of lower neck. Mantle brown.
Female (adult). Similar to male but duller — brown rather than
chestnut — with the belly less contrasty off-white and not sharply demarcated
at the edges. Eye brown.
In flight the chestnut colour, white oval belly-patch, white under tail-
coverts, and broad white crescentic band on flight feathers (outer
secondaries) diagnostic in both sexes.
Young (immature). Like female but more uniformly brown, with
silvery brown underparts and brownish grey eyes.
DUCKS, GEESE, SWANS
m
status, distribution and habitat. Breeds in Kashmir and Ladakh;
winter visitor elsewhere. Common in W. Pakistan and N. India, and practi-
cally the entire Union; Nepal (Valley chiefly on passage; bhabar winter).
Less common to rare in Bengal, Assam, Manipur, E. Pakistan. Sparsely
in the Deccan south to Mysore and Kerala (on coastal backwaters and
lagoons). No record from eastern side of the Peninsula south of Madras,
or Ceylon. Affects weedy and rush-covered jheels as well as more open
irrigation tanks, the latter chiefly as daytime refuges and foraging bases.
Extralimital. 1 Breeds in S. Europe, Balkans, Poland and W. Siberia to
the Ob Valley, south to N. Africa, Persia, Turkestan, Kashmir, the Pamirs,
and S. Tibet, Winters, in the Mediterranean region, Nile Valley, Persian
Gulf, India, and Burma * (Peter Scott).
migration. An adult ringed in W. Pakistan (Karachi district) in winter
(January) was recovered at 44°34'N., 66°7'E. in the Syr Daria region
of Kazakh SSR, three years later. As this was at the end of April it is
uncertain whether the bird had already arrived on its breeding-grounds.
general habits. Similar to those of the Common Pochard and others of
the genus. In coastal areas, and in the Kerala backwaters, often spends
the daytime riding on the sea beyond the surf, safe from disturbance by
passing boats, flighting inland at dusk to feed in outlying tanks and paddy-
fields and returning to the diurnal refuge at dawn. Is an expert diver and
underwater swimmer, procuring most of its food thus, and difficult to
retrieve from the water if shot and only winged*
food. Vegetable as well as animal : corms, shoots, leaves, and seeds of
aquatic plants; crustaceans, molluscs, water insects and larvae, worms,
frogs and small fish.
184 AN'S BRIFOR MBS
voice. A peculiar harsh kirr-kere, kin uttered both as it flashes from the
reeds and when walking about and feeding in a marsh (Hume).
breeding. WitKin our limits only in Kashmir and Ladakh at about 1500
metres altitude on the Hokarsar, Dal, and other lakes. Season , May to June/
July. Nest, a pad of rushes c. 25-35 cm. across and 10-12 cm. in depth, thickly
lined with finer grasses and down feathers, with a deep depression for the
eggs. Built among reed-beds close to the water’s edge. Eggs, 6 to 12 j —
usually 8-10 — pale buff or cafe-au-lait , moderately broad regular ov^ls,
smooth and fine- textured. Average size of 150 eggs 51-7 X 37*9 mm.
(Baker). 1 Incubation 25-27 days’ (Delacour). The anepunt from Hume’s
time of ‘ boatload* ’ of its eggs being brought by Kashmiri IWfiemen for
sale as food in the Srinagar bazaar seems difficult to erethf ih ^iew of the
low numerical status of the breeding population today* As has been
suggested, these boatloads possibly comprised a xmxed bag of all marsh-
birds’ eggs including Mallard, coots, moorhens, and others.
Museum Diagnosis. For details of plumages see Witherby 1939, 3:294-6. For
differentiation from the superficially similar Eastern White-eye (Aythya baeri) sec
under that species and Key.
Chirk (in down). See Delacour 1959, 3: 71 (description); 140 (plate).
MEASUREMENTS
Wing
Bill
(from feathers)
Tarsus
Tail
174-192
40-43
29-32
48-58 mm.
9 9
176-185
36-40
—
(Witherby)
Weight, c? 1 lb. 2 oz. to 1 lb. 9 oz. ( c . 510-710 gm.); 9 1 lb. 3 oz. to 1 lb. 6 oz.
(c. 540-625 gm.) — Hume.
colours of bare parts. Iris white, occasionally yellow; 9 brown. Bill dull
slaty or bluish black. Legs and feel dull dark slaty tinged with grey or green, some-
times mottled about the joints.
110. Baer’s Pochard or Eastern White-eye. Aythya baeri (Radde)
Anas (Fuligula) Baeri Radde, 1863, Reise Slid von Ost-Siberien, 2: 376, pi. 15
(upper Salbatch Plain, middle Amur River, Siberia)
Baker, FBI No. 2281 , Vol. 6:454
local names. Badd bhuti bans (Bengal); Bor kali muri (Assam).
size. Domestic duck — ; length c. 46 cm. (18 in.).
FIELD CHARACTERS.
Male (breeding). Similar to Ferruginous Duck (No. 109) but whole
head and neck black glossed with green, grading into rich rufous-chestnut
on breast.
Male (in eclipse). Duller, with head and neck unglossed brownish
black like female.
Female (adult). Head and neck dull blackish brown without metallic
gloss. A chestnut patch on face near bill. On the whole very like female
109, and if unaccompanied by rf , doubtfully distinguishable from it in the
field.
DUCKS, GEESE, SWANS 1#5
Young (immature). Like female, but browner.
status, Distribution and habitat. Uncommon and erratic winter
visitor to Manipur (fairly regular), Assam, W. Bengal, and E. Pakistan.
Has occurred also in Bihar. Possibly less rare in these areas than records
indicate, but casually overlooked among sportsmen’s bags of white-eyes,
both species being found together and the females superficially so alike.
ExtralimitaL Breeds from Transbaikalia to the lower Ussuri and the
Amur; Kamchatka (?). Winters in China, Korea, Japan, upper Assam,
and Burma (Peter Scott).
migration. Nothing known.
general habits. Little recorded except that it is stronger and faster
on the wing than the Ferruginous Duck.
food and voice. Not specifically described.
breeding. Extralimital. Little known.
Museum Diagnosis
MEASUREMENTS
Wing Bill Tarsus Tail
dV 210-233 48-50 36-38 67-72 mm.
9 9 186-203 47-48 -r —
(Delacour)
colours of bare parts. Iris & white or golden yellow; 9 brown. Bill slaty
blue, the basal third, tip, and nail blackish. Legs and feet grey, the joints and webs
darker.
111. Tufted Duck. Aylhya fuligula (Linnaeus)
Anas fuligula Linnaeus, 1758, Syst. Nat., cd. 10, 1: 128 (Sweden)
Baker, FBI No. 2283, Vol. 6:458
Plate 1, fig. 7, facing p. 16
local names. Dubaru , Abldk , Rdhward (Hindi); Turando , Runharo (Sind); Kdlwe -
Ho (Gujarat, Nal Sarovar) ; Malak (Nepal terai) ; Nalla chiluwa (Telugu) ; Bdmmiya
hdns (Bengal, Assam).
size. Domestic dock length c. 43 cm. (17 in.).
FIELD '
Male (b^edlnk). Plumage boldly contrasting black and white. Jet-
black head^ nedk, breast, back, tad, and vent; pure white flanks and sides
of body. White wing-mirror (Speculum), A limp occipital tuft (prominent
in profile) and yellow eye, additional clues. In flight a broad white band
along trailing edge of wings in both sexes conspicuous.
x c. i
186
ANSERI FORMES
Male (in eclipse). Upperparts duller and browner, and dusted with
white. Chin and throat mottled with white; lower breast with crescentic
white mottling. Sides and flanks pale brown
i ^ vermiculated whitish.
^ ^ Female (adult). Dark brown replaces
g|||| black parts of male. White of lower plumage
sootier, less in extent, and diffused at edges
— 1 — \ T (not clear-cut). Tuft rudimentary. Some-
times a white ring of feathers at forehead
> around base of bill but much narrower
s' than in Scaup (q.v.). Rather variable in
/ details.
f Young (immature). Male like adult
female, but with mantle feathers more
I dusted with white, underparts more uniform
y brown, the belly barred with white. Young
, ■ — female more uniform brown.
status, distribution and habitat. Winter
\ visitor arriving about mid-October and
. . r , . mostly gone by end March. Common in W.
Bill oi Adult male from above and _ . » « « # *■ «• / « *»• « •
side, x c. | Pakistan and N. India (rare m Kashmir;
on passage?) including Nepal Valley and
lowlands, east to Assam, Manipur, and E. Pakistan, south to about the 20th
parallel (Madhya Pradesh, Orissa). Decreasingly in the Deccan and farther
south to Mysore (rare). Rare vagrant in Ceylon (1 record), and Maidive
Islands. Has been recorded on high-altitude tarns and lakes (up to c. 5330 m.)
in E. Nepal and Sikkim, March through May, presumably on northward
Aythy* fuligula
DUCKS, GEESE, SWANS 137
emigration. Affects opener and deeper tanks and irrigation reservoirs than
White-eyed Pochard, and expanses of open water in the middle of jhecls.
Extralimital. Breeds in Europe and Asia from Iceland and the British
Isles to the Commander Islands (Pacific), south to central Europe, Balkans,
Kirghiz steppes. Lake Baikal, the Amur and Sakhalin. Winters in southern
half of breeding range and south to Nile Valley, Persian Gulf, S. China
and Philippines (Peter Scott).
migration. No ringing data.
general habits. Not appreciably different from the Common and
White-eyed Pochards (qq.v.), likewise procuring its food chiefly by diving.
Rides rather low on water, often with only top of back visible, as in cormo-
rant Occasionally in very large flocks, or rafts, of several hundred on open
tanks.
food. Both animal and vegetable matter as in other pochards.
voice. Mostly silent in its winter quarters. A harsh, low kwr-r-r, kur-r-r ,
uttered in flight.
Museum Diagnosis. For details of plumages etc. see Witherby 1959, 3: 300-2
Chick (in down). See Delacour 1959, 3: 77 (description); 140 (plate).
Tarsus Tail
33—37 c, 49—58 mm.
(Baker)
Weight, c? 1 lb. 8 oz. to 2 lb. 4 oz. (c. 680-1025 gm.); 9 1 lb. 4 oz. to 1 lb.
10 oz. (c. 568-795 gm.) — Hume.
Colours or bare parts. Iris bright yellow. Bill greyish blue or bluish slate to
dull dark plumbeous; nail and tip black. Legs and feet same as bill; joints darker,
webs almost black.
MEASUREMENTS
Wing
Bill
(from feathers)
192-208
37-44 1
9 9
189-202
37-42 J
112. Scaup Duck. Aythya marila marila (Linnaeus)
Anas Marila Linnaeus, 1761, Fn. svec., ed. 2*. 39 (Lapland)
Baker, FBI No. 2282, Vol. 6: 456
Plate 9, fig. 4, facing p, 176
local names. Doubtfully differentiated from 111.
sizr. Domestic duck — ; length c. 46 cm. (r. 18 in.).
FIELD CHARACTERS.
Male (breeding). Very similar to Tufted Duck, the black parts glossed
with purple but black back replaced by vermiculated pale grey. Occipital
tuff lacking.
Male (in eclipse). Like adult female, but upperparts more heavily
vermiculated and pure white facial band absent. Speculum whiter and
more pronounced than in female.
Female (adult). Dark brown, closely resembling female Tufted, but
always with a sharply defined white band at forehead around base of bill,
broader and more prominent than in similar Tufted females.
Eye colour and wing pattern in both sexes same as in Tufted Duck.
188 AN SERI FORMES
Young (immature) male like adult female, but darker and richer
brown* Facial band much less in extent, or wanting.
STATUS, DISTRIBUTION and HABITAT.
Rare vagrant in winter. Has occurred
in W. Pakistan (Attock, Karachi ?),
Salt Range, Kashmir, Kulu, Punjab,
Delhi (Gurgaon), Nepal, Uttar Pra-
desh, Bihar (Monghyr), W. Bengal
(Calcutta), E. Pakistan (Chittagong),
Assam (Dibrugarh, Lakhimpur), Ma-
nipur (near Imphal), Gujarat (Bhav-
nagar), Maharashtra (Panvel, Ahmed-
nagar), Not south of 19°N. latitude*
Some young birds in duck hunters’ bags
possibly mistaken for other pochards
and escape record. Elsewhere largely a
sea duck ; in India taken on freshwater
lakes.
ExtralimitaL ‘ Breeds in N. Europe
and Asia (eastern limits not yet deter-
mined). Winters on coasts of W. Europe
(including Britain), eastern Mediterra-
nean, Black Sea, Persian Gulf, NW. India ’ (Peter Scott).
general HABITS. Very little recorded in India, and nothing to suggest
any appreciable difference from Tufted Duck in habits, food or voice.
breeding. Extralimital. Nest and site as in Tufted Duck. Eggs, 7 to 12,
olive-drab. Average size of 150 eggs 62*7 x 43*8 mm. (Baker). Incubation
23-27 days (Dclacour).
Museum Diagnosis. Female differentiated from female Tufted Duck by broader,
sharply defined white band around base of bill, larger wing, and longer, broader bill.
For details of plumages see Witherby 1959, 3: 305-7.
Chick (in down). See Delacour 1959, 3: 140 (plate).
MEASUREMENTS
Wing Bill Tarsus Tail
(from feathers)
cV 2 1 7-235 c. 43-47 S 34-38 45-63 mm.
9 9 209-225 c. 40-46 J (Baker)
Weight. cF 9 1 lb. 12 oz. to 2 lb. 8 oz. (c. 795-1135 gm.) — Hume.
colours of bare parts. Iris yellow or golden yellow. Bill greyish blue to dull
slaty grey; nail black. Legs and feet greyish blue to dull slaty, darker on joints;
webs and claws black.
miscellaneous. Longevity (from ringing data): c. 13 years (Ring, 1962,
33: 148).
Bill of adult male from above and
side, x c. I
Genus Aix Boie
Aix Boie , 1828, Isis, 21, col. 329. Type, by subsequent designation, Anas sponsa
Linnaeus (Eyton, 1838, Monogr. Anat.: 35)
Foreneck feathers in male much elongated, forming a conspicuous ruff. Innermost
secondary highly ornamental, very broad and long. Head crested. Culmen short.
189
DUCKS, GEESE, SWANS
nearly straight. Legs placed well forward; tarsus short; claws sharp enabling the
birds to climb steeply inclined tree-trunks and boughs. For further details see Dcla-
cour 1959, 3 : 99-100.
113. Mandarin Duck* Aix galericulata (Linnaeus)
Anas galericulata Linnaeus, 1758, Syst. Nat., ed. 10, 1 : 128 (China)
Baker, FBI No. 2251, Vol. 6: 394
Plate 9, fig. 3, facing p. 176
local name. None.
size. Domestic duck — ; Common Teal + ; length c. 44 cm. (c. 1 7 in.).
FIELD CHARACTERS.
Male (breeding). A multicoloured, highly ornamental little duck —
orange-buff, metallic bronzy and coppery blue, green, purple, cinnamon,
and chestnut. Sides of face greyish buff, bordered above by white super-
cilium from bill to nape. A long, thick metallic purple nuchal crest falling
over upper back. Enormously broadened fan-shaped tertiary feathers, steel
blue and orange-chestnut, upstanding like sails (or like exaggerated tail-
fins of an aeroplane). Lower neck and sides of breast brilliant purple-copper.
Sides of lower breast with a composite band of 3 black and 2 white stripes — *
a broken pectoral band. Altogether a unique combination of feather struc-
ture and colour, seen in no other duck.
Male (in eclipse). More or less like female, but more glossy. Bill remains
reddish and legs yellow.
Female (adult). Above, head and mop-like crest grey, with a white
ring round eye continued as a streak behind it. Rest of upperparts olive-
brown. A deep blue-green wing speculum margined with black and white.
Below , chin, throat, and upper neck white. Lower neck, breast, sides, and
flanks olive-brown broadly mottled paler. Rest of underparts white.
Young (immature). c Like females only more uniform brownish grey,
the male with less conspicuous eye markings * (Delacour).
status, distribution and habitat. Exceptional vagrant. Only taken
twice within our limits: a specimen in Assam (Lakhimpur dist.) and four
in one day in Manipur (Mayangthang Valley, c. 930 m.). The latter in
March 1934 on a small stream with occasional high grassy pools along its
bed, Stuart Baker once observed a party of six birds also in Lakhimpur
district, Assam.
ExtmlimitaL E. Asia from the Amur and Ussuri, south through Korea,
E. China, Japan to Formosa (Taiwan).
General habits. In its residential range associates in small flocks of a
dozen or so, frequenting and feeding in forest streams and ponds. Perches
freely in tall trees, c whole families together exactly like a family of rooks
or crows’ (Sowerby). Is a strong flier (reminiscent of Common Teal) and
good swimmer; walks well but dives poorly.
FOOD. Animal and vegetable matter. Particulars not recorded.
voice. Said to utter * a peculiar whistling note \
breeding. Extralimital. Nest, of grass, thickly lined with down, in
holes in trees by forest streams, Eggs, 9 to 12, huffy stone colour, glossy.
Average size 49 X 36*5 mm. Incubation 28-30 days (Delacour).
190 ANSER I FORMES
Museum Diagnosis. For fuller description of plumage see Baker, loc. rib
Chick (in down). See Delacour 1959, 3: 106 (description); 140 ((date).
MEASUREMENTS
Wing
Bill
Tarsus
Tail
220-235
27-31
35-42
110-115 mm.
9 9
217-230
26-30
*—
(Delacour)
colours of bare parts. Iris dark brown with a yellow outer ring. Bill red
(pink in some females); nail fleshy pink. Legs orange-buff.
miscellaneous. The Mandarin duck occupies an important place in
Japanese folklore and art as a symbol of marital fidelity, on a par with the
Sarus crane in India. In Japanese paintings and embroidery the ornate
male is seldom depicted alone; traditionally he is always accompanied by
his plain-coloured spouse (Austin & Kuroda, 1953).
Genus Nettapus Brandt
Nettapus Brandt, 1836, Descr. Icon. Anim. Ross. Nov., Aves, fasc. 1 : 5. Type, by
monotypy. Anas madagascaricnsis Gmelin «= Anas aurita Boddacrt
Distinguished by small size and short goose-like bill, high at base narrowing
gradually in front. Nostrils small, oval, situated near base of commissure. Legs
short; hind toe narrowly but distinctly lobed. Wings pointed. Tail rounded. Sexes
dimorphic.
114. Cotton Teal or Quacky-duck. Nettapus coromandelianus
coromandelianus (Gmelin)
Anas coromandelianus Gmelin, 1789, Syst. Nat., 1(2): 522 (Coromandel, India)
Baker, FBI No. 2250, Vol. 6: 392
Plate 4, fig. 3, facing p. 64
local names. G*m, Girria, Gifja (Hindi) ; Gurgura (Etawah) ; Bali hdns (Bengal) ;
Bhullia hdns (E. Pakistan); Ddnddna (Orissa); Ade, Ada (Ratnagiri); Naher , Ketke,
Chuwa (Nowgong, Assam); Baher , Kdr&rhi (Sind).
size. Partridge; length c. 33 cm. (13 in.).
field characters. The smallest of our ducks; with a short stubby
goose-like bill.
Male (breeding). Grown and back blackish brown, the latter glossed
with purple and green. Face, neck and underparts white, with a
prominent black collar round base of neck, and white wing-bar. In
flight diminutive size, predominatingly white plumage, and white bar
on trailing edge of wing diagnostic.
Male (in eclipse) like female but upperparts
darker and wing-bar prominent as in breeding
dress.
Female (adult), duller and browner with less
contrasty white in plumage. White wing-bar less
prominent. A dark line through eyes.
Young (immature). Like female but more brown about the head and
more banded with light brown on Banks. Wing-bar in males more prominent.
DUCKS, GEESE, SWANS 191
status, distribution and habitat. Resident but local, practically
throughout the Indian Union, both Pakistans, Nepal terai, Ceylon, and
Andaman Is. Plains to c. 300 metres altitude. Commonest in deltaic W.
Bengal and E. Pakistan. Rare or absent in arid portions of W. Pakistan,
Punjab, and Rajasthan. Not recorded from Kerala. Subject to local move-
ments dependent on water conditions. Affects vegetation-covered j heels,
village tanks, and ponds; also shallow lagoons, e.g. ‘ Salt Lakes Calcutta.
ExtralimitaL Burma, east to S. China, south to Malaya and north-
western East Indies (Peter Scott).
migration. Evidently locally migratory to some extent, but no precise
indication.
general habits. Usually pairs in breeding season; small flocks from
5 to 15, occasionally up to 50 or more, at other times * up to 500’ in Mysore
(Phythian- Adams). Tame and confiding where unmolested, e.g. on secluded
village tanks; exceedingly wild where persecuted by hunters. Flight strong
and swift with rapid whirring wing-beats, usually with a great deal of agile
turning and twisting, fairly low over water and skimming the tree-tops.
Feeds on surface but can dive creditably to avoid capture when winged
by shot or while moulting flight feathers. Clumsy on land.
food. Mainly vegetarian : shoots, corms, seeds of aquatic plants, grains
of cultivated and wild rice (known as pasai in,U.P.), etc. Also Crustacea,
worms, and insects and their larvae. ,
voice. A peculiar short, sharp, chuckling cackle, rendered by Col.
Tickell as resembling the words ‘ Fix baggonets! Fix baggonets! ’, uttered
chiefly on the wing.
breeding. Season , June to September — mainly July and August — in
N, India; February to August in Ceylon. Nest, a natural hollow in a tree-
trunk standing in or near water, 2 to 5 metres above water level. Occa-
sionally a hole in a building. Unlined or scantily so with grass, feathers,
and rubbish; no down. One nest recorded in a box-like hole in the coping
of Government House, Rangoon, in 1924, 68 feet (r. 20 m.) above ground.
Eggs, normally 6 to 14 (once 22, probably product of more than one female),
pearly white, becoming stained and dirty during incubation. Short broad
ovals, equal at both ends; fine and close- textured. Average size of 100 eggs
43*1 X 32*9 mm. Incubation by female alone (?); period 15-16 days
from last egg (Baker).
In the case of the Rangoon nest, the thirteen ducklings were pushed out
of nest-hole by parent, dropped like stones for some distance, then fluttered
to break fall, and reached ground safely. Elsewhere female has also been
observed carrying down duckling on her back (H. S. Wood).
Museum Diagnosis
Chick (in down). Dark greyish brown above, with large white patches on
scapulars, wings, flanks, and sides of rump. Cap black; hindneck greyish. Rest of
head and neck white; a black streak through eye continued over hindneck. Under-
parts pale buff. See Delacour 1959, 3: 140 (plate).
lOUSUIUnCBNTS
Wing Bill Tarsus Tail
152-167 22-24 23-25 72-75 mm.
9 9 150-153 20-23
(Delacour)
192 ANS EH I FORMES
Weight* c? c* 8 to 11 oz. (f. 255-312 gm.); 9 6J to 9 oz. (c. 185-255 gm.) —
Hume.
COLOURS OP bare parts. Iris <? red-brown ; 9 brown. Bill black; 9 brown
or dark olive, yellowish on lower mandible and gape. Legs and feet blackish brown
or black.
Genus Sarkidiornis Eyton
Sarkidiornis Eyton, 1838, Monogr. Anat. : 20. Type, by original designation, Anstr
melanotos Pennant
Bill of moderate length furnished in the male with a fleshy knob on the base
which becomes greatly swollen in the breeding season. 'Pail of twelve feathers,
long and graduated. Hind toe narrowly lobed. A spur on shoulder of wing.
Tropical; found in America, Africa, Madagascar, east to Burma and the Indo-
chinese subregion. A single species in India.
115. Nakta or Comb Duck. Sarkidiornis melanotos melanotos (Pennant)
Anser melanotos Pennant, 1769, Ind. Zool. : 12, pi. 11 (Ceylon)
Baker, FBI No. 2247, Vol. 6: 385
Plate 4, fig. 1, facing p. 64
local NAMES. Nakta (Hindi; Bengal); Ndkwa (Bihar); Ndki hdnsa (Orissa);
Juttu chiluwa (Tclugu); Dodda wile hdkki (Kannada); Karo kdnj (Sind); Kabalittiya
(Sinhala); Mookhln than i (Tamil).
size. Domestic duck -f ; length c. 76 cm. (30 in.).
field characters. A large perching duck of superficially similar
colour pattern to Cotton Teal.
Male (adult). Upper back black, glossed with blue-green and purple.
Lower back grey, conspicuous in flight. Head and neck white, speckled
with black. A black half-collar down side of breast; another similar black
band descending in front of under tail-coverts. Wing speculum (secondaries)
bronze. A curious fleshy knob, or comb, on base of bill at forehead, becoming
greatly swollen in breeding season.
No eclipse plumage.
Female (adult). Like male, but without comb on bill and considerably
smaller and duller. Underparts somewhat mottled with brown and lacking
demi-collar on upper breast, and band near tail.
Young (immature)> differs from female in being less glossy on black
upperparts. White of hindneck sullied witli brown and barred with blackish.
Lower back and rump dull greyish white; upper tail-coverts and tail dull
brown (Whistler).
status, distribution and habitat. Resident, shifting locally with
water conditions. Rare in southern apd eastern Sind; absent elsewhere
in W. Pakistan. Occurs practically in all India and E. Pakistan, east through
Assam, south to Mysore (rare). Not recorded in Nepal. Formerly sparse
resident in Ceylon; now believed extinct as no record in x>resent century.
Affects reedy bunded tanks and jheels in well-wooded plains country.
Extralimilal. 1 Africa from Gambia and the Sudan, south to the Cape
and Madagascar; Burma and SE. China * (Peter Scott).
PLATE io
1 Accifnter g. schvedowi , Goshawk (136).
2 Airifnter n. melawimtos, Indian Sparrow-Hawk 048)
\ a ~.:i n.j I/-, / 1 1> i r“ . v >'
Hieraaetus pennatus ,
,, : ' .s- — \ «- u. meununuosy intuan spatr
•* Acnpiterv. kesra, Besra Sparrow-Hawk (151 ). 4 Milvusm. milvus , Red Kite (131;. 5 /j
Booted Hawk-Eagle (164). 6 Penis p. ruficollis , Crested Honey Buzzard (130). 7 Hutto i rufmus
Longlegged Buzzard (153) 8 fla/re *. bmmamcm. Buzzard (156). 0 Bafee Warnt, Upland Buzzard
(1 j4). 10 Circus macrourus, Pale Harrier (190), 11 Circus a. aeriiginosus. Marsh Harrier (193).
DUCKS, GEESE, SWANS m
Another race, sylvatica (= carmculatus ) in South America.
general HABrrs. Keeps in family parties of 4 to 10 birds, but flocks
of 25 to 30 occasional; more rarely gatherings of even up to a hundred.
Flight strong and swift with wing-action reminiscent of geese. A good
walker and perches freely on branches of trees during daytime; can cling
on with ease to tree- trunk outside nest-hollow with its strong claws. Does not
normally dive for food which obtained chiefly by grazing, but can dive
very effectively to evade capture when in moult and flightless, or when
winged.
food. Largely vegetarian: conns, shoots, and seeds of aquatic and
marsh plants, and grains of wild and cultivated rice. Also water insects and
their larvae; occasionally frogs and fish.
voice. Normally silent except for an occasional low harsh croak. A ‘ fine
loud honk ’ in the breeding season (Baker).
breeding. Season , during the SW. monsoon, mainly July to September.
Nest, normally in a large natural hollow at moderate height in an ancient
tree standing in or close to water, sometimes a considerable distance away.
Unlined or scantily so with dry leaves, grass, and feathers. Occasionally
recorded breeding in old vulture nests, and in holes in old fort walls and
earth cliffs. Eggs, 7 to 15, pale cream, of the texture and appearance of
polished ivory. Average size of 100 eggs 61*8 x 43-3 mm. (Baker). Incu-
bation by female alone ( ?) ; period 30 days.
Up to 47 eggs have been taken from a single nest, the product of two
or more females, as is commonly the case where large trees with suitable
hollows are scarce.
Museum Diagnosis
Chick (in down). ‘ Hair brown above with two large buffy yellow spots on the
sides, and one on the wing. Face and underparts buffy yellow with a small brown
line, often interrupted, through the eyes 9 — r Delacour 1959, 3: 122; 140 (plate).
MEASUREMENTS
Wing
Bill
Tarsus
Tail
339-406
(from feathers)
c. 63-70
c. 64-75
139-153 mm.
9 9 c. 280-309
c. 59-66
—
—
Comb of cT in
breeding season c. 55-60 mm. at widest point.
(Baker)
Weight of a fine adult 5 lb. 12 oz. ( c . 2610 gm.) ; 9 9 4 lb. 4 oz. to 5 lb. 2 oz.
(c. 1925-2325 gm.). — Hume.
colours of bare parts. Iris dark brown. Bill and comb black. Legs and feet
plumbeous.
Genus C a irina Fleming
Cairina Fleming, 1822, Philos. Zool. 2: 260. Type, by monotypy, Anas moschata
Linnaeus
Asarcomis Salvadori, 1895, Cat. Bds. Brit. Mus. 27 : 46 (in key), 59. Type, by original
designation and monotypy, Anas scutulata S. Midler
Close to Sarkidtomis in its dark coloration and general proportions of body, wings,
bill, legs, and tail. Also in possession of a bony knob on wing. Male appreciably
larger than female; bill without comb but becoming considerably swollen at base
13
194 ANSERIFORMES
of cuimen in breeding season. Differs from Sarkidtmiis mainly in pattern of plumage
and possession of a conspicuous white wing-patch formed by secondaries and upper
wing-coverts.
The genus, which contains the familiar domesticated Muscovy Duck, is represented
in India by only a single species.
116. Whitewinged Wood Duck. Catrina scutulata (S. Muller)
Anas scutulata S. Muller, 1842, Verh. Nat. Ges, Ned. Land-en Volkenk.: 159 (Java)
Baker, FBI No. 2248, Vol. 6: 387
Plate 4, fig. 2, facing p. 64
local names. Deo Jidns (Assam); Hagrani, Daophlantu (Cachar).
size. Domestic duck + ; length c. 81 cm. (32 in.).
FIELD CHARACTERS.
Male (adult). Head and neck white, variably speckled with black as
in Nakta. Rest of plumage above and below largely glistening blackish and
rich chestnut-brown. A bluish grey speculum bordered anteriorly by a broad
black band. A large white patch on wing-shoulder (upper coverts) diagn-
ostic at rest and in flight. This white wing-patch and dark underparts
at once distinguish it from Nakta (of about same large size) even at long
range.
No eclipse plumage.
X c.i
Female (adult). Much smaller, otherwise not conspicuously different
from male.
Young (immature) . Duller and browner.
status, distribution and habitat. Resident, Assam, particularly the
NE. Frontier tracts; Manipur (up to c . 900 m,), and E. Pakistan. Rare and
apparently becoming scarcer. Affects waterlogged depressions in evergreen
forest, often with gaunt dead trees standing about, and bheels amidst dense
cane brakes and tall elephant-grass jungle.
Extralimital . Burma, Thailand, Indochina, and through Malaya to
Sumatra and Java.
general habits. Keeps in pairs or small parties of 5 or 6 on jungle
ponds. Not infrequent in NEFA wherever it occurs, a pair or so present on
almost every secluded jungle pool, the more sheltered and overgrown the
more likely to hold the duck. Once 11 recorded together; another unusual
DUCKS, GEESE, SWANS 105
recent (1948) observation of two parties totalling about 30 birds on the
open Padma river in East Pakistan — February (H. G. Alexander). Habits
little known except that like Nakta perches in trees. Flights at dusk to feed
in opener waters and marshes during night, returning at dawn to daytime
refuge on secluded forest pool.
Cairina scutulata
food. Feeding habits in wild state not recorded. The crop of a specimen
shot was full of 4 pyramidal seeds of a marsh plant * (species ?) (T. C. Hut-
chinson). In captivity apparently omnivorous with a preference for animal
food; skimming along the water with head and neck immersed, and diving
to chase small fish (Baker).
voice. Described as a * peculiar, distinctive whistle * (R. E. Parsons).
The male’s as a trumpet-like cronk-cronk (B. E. Smythies). Another observer
in Burma likens it to a very mournful wail rather than cronk, usually heard
when the bird is flighting at dusk. Female said to whistle on wing. ‘ When
alarmed, uttered a goose-like honk 9 (Hutchinson).
breeding. Presumably similar to Nakta. No authentic record in our
area. An egg brought to Baker in Gachar by his local collector was reported
as taken from a nest of grass and rubbish in a deep natural hollow c. 6 metres
up in the bifurcation of a tree-trunk alongside a jungle stream. It matched
the eggs of Nakta, and measured 65 x 48* 1 mm.
Delacour (1959) quoting Schuyl gives 4 Eggs greenish yellow, 7 to 10,
65 x 48 mm. ; incubation 30 days \
Museum Diagnosis. For detailed description of plumage etc. see Baker, loc. cit.
Chick (in down). ‘ Dark brown, the head and neck deeper in colour, the under-
parts lighter * — Delacour 1959, 3: 140 (plate).
196
ANSERIFORMES
MEASUREMENTS
Wing
Bill
(from feathers)
Tarsus
Tail
363-401
58-66
54-60
127-178 mu
9 9
305-356
55-61
(Delacour)
—
(Baker)
Weight, c7* 6 lb. 8 oz. to 8 lb. 8 oz. (« c . 2945-3855 gm.); 9 4 lb. 12 oz. to 6 lb,
1 2 oz. (c. 2 1 50-3050 gm,) — Baker.
Colours of bare parts. Iris o’* orange-yellow, 9 brown. Bill orange, mottled
with black; in breeding season base becomes swollen in cf 1 * Legs and feet orange-
yellow.
Genus Glangula Leach
Clangula Leach, 1819, in Ross, Voy. Disc., App. : xlviii. Type, by monotypy, Anas
glacialis Linnaeus — Anas hyemalis Linnaeus
1 Bill shorter than head and than tarsus ; high at base. Cutting edge of upper
mandible ascending rapidly towards nail, which occupies whole tip of bill. Culmcn
straight but nail slightly elevated. Nostril close to feathers. Feathering advancing
farthest on oilmen; on sides of culmcn forming a nearly straight oblique line.
Rectrices 14, exceptionally 16; tail strongly rounded, rectrices pointed, those of
male greatly elongated. Sexes very different, summer and winter also. One species
in arctic regions of Northern Hemisphere ’ (Witherby 1939, 3: 317-18).
1 1 7. Longtail Duck, or Old Squaw. Clangula hyemalis (Linnaeus)
Anas hyemalis Linnaeus, 1758, Syst. Nat., rd. 10, 1:126 (Northern Sweden)
Baker, JBNHS 37:549
Plate 9, fig. 5, facing p. 176
local names. Unrecorded.
size. Domestic duck — ; length body c . 30 cm. (12 in.); pointed tail
c. 13 cm. (5 in.).
field characters. In winter, when recorded and likely to occur in our
area, the contrasty dark chocolate-brown and white plumage pattern of
male combined with small head, short bill, and long pointed tail distinctive.
The last normally carried horizontal when swimming, partly expanded
and erected vertically under excitement.
Male (adult). Winter : Head, neck, and upper breast pure white. A dark
brown patch on either side of neck behind ear-coverts. Back (i.e. a broad
band along spine), pointed central tail, and a collar descending from upper
back widening below into a broad pectoral band to include upper abdomen,
dark brown. Scapulars, abdomen, flanks, and vent, white.
In flight the scapulars showing up as broad white streaks between dark
wings, and the broad brown spinal band (tapering posteriorly into pointed
central tail-feathers), aid identification.
Male (adult). Summer : Head, neck, and upper breast largely blackish
brown. Back same scalloped with chestnut-buff.
Male (in eclipse). ‘ Mantle darker, the black more pronounced; the
sides of the body and flanks have drab and grey feathers mingled with the
white ’ (Baker).
Female (adult). Winter : Entire back dark brown, more or less scalloped
with fulvous. Head white with dusky crown and patches on sides of upper
DUCKS, GEESE, SWANS W
neck. Lower foreneck and upper breast brownish, forming a diffuse pectoral
band. Rest of underparts white.
Female (adult). Summer : Upperparts darker and duller than in winter,
the scalloping less bright and conspicuous.
status, distribution and habitat. Rare straggler in winter. Three
records from W. Pakistan (Baluchistan, 1933, 1938; Sind, 1936); one each
from Kashmir (Hokarsar, 1939) and NE. Assam (Sadiya Frontier Tract,
1935). A half dozen or so together observed on some of these occasions.
Shot on jheels, and Brahmaputra river.
Extralimital. * Breeds on arctic coasts of Europe, Asia, and N. America.
Winters south to Britain, France, Holland, Black Sea, Caspian Sea, Japan.
California, the Great Lakes, N. Carolina; S. Greenland ’ (Peter Scott).
Clangufa hyemMlis
general habits. Normally a maritime duck, often found far out from
the coast even on a choppy sea. A good swimmer and diver, obtaining its
food under water, sometimes remaining submerged in the quest for many
seconds at a time. Flight reminiscent of Pintail, somewhat less swift.
food. Recorded as mainly animal — molluscs, crustaceans, etc. The
Brahmaputra specimen had its crop and gullet crammed with small
shrimps.
voice. Not recorded in India. A very deep guttural croak, said to be
entirely unlike that of any other duck. * Resembles low or distant bark of
dog * (E. M. Nicholson).
breeding. Extralimital. Nest a depression in the ground on open tundras,
thickly lined with down; well hidden in undergrowth by lakes and pools.
Eggs, 6 to 11, olive or yellowish buff, 54 x 38 mm.; incubation 24 days
(Delacour).
198 ANSERIFORMES
Museum Diaonos». For details of plumages etc. see Witherby 1959, 3; 321-4;
Baker, loc. cit.
Chick (in down). See Delacour 1959, 3: 173 (description), 256 (plate).
MEASUREMENTS
Wing Bill Tarsus Tail
(from feathers)
<?<?» 219-236 26-29 32-35 199-246 mm.
9 9 202-210 23-28 — —
colours of rare parts. Iris c? carmine to hazel, 9 yellow, immature brown.
Bill c? 1 basal half black, terminal portion rose-red to orange-yellow, nail bluish
grey; 9 greyish black; imm. blue-grey. Legs and feet light bluish grey, webs
dusky, claws black; 9 greenish grey, webs dusky; imm. (J> pale grey, webs nearly
black (Witherby).
Genus Bucephala Baird
Bucephala Baird, 1858, Rep. ExpL and Surv. R. R. Pac. 9: L, 788, 795. Type, by
original designation, Anas albeola Linnaeus
Bill short, higher than broad at base, not much flattened at tip, tapering slightly
throughout, more rapidly and rounded at end. Profile of culmen very slighdy con-
cave. Nostril placed nearer to tip than to base of bill, a feature peculiar to this duck.
LaraeU&e short, stout, and placed very close together. Tarsus short; scutellatc in
front. Hind toe well developed, with broad lobe. Legs placed far back rendering
walking difficult. Wings pointed. Tail long and strongly graduated. Posterior end
of sternum prolonged as in Merganser . Sexes dimorphic.
Only one species occurs in India as a rare winter visitor.
118. Goldeneye Duck, Bucephala clangula clangula (Linnaeus)
Anas Clangula Linnaeus, 1758, Syst. Nat., ed. 10, 1: 125 (Sweden)
Baker, FBI No. 2284, Vol. 6 : 460 ( ~ Glaucionetta c. clangula)
Plate 9, fig. 6, facing p. 176
local names. None recorded.
size. Domestic duck — ; length c. 46 cm. (18 in.).
FIELD CHARACTERS.
Male (breeding). Head, nape, chin, and throat black, the first two
brilliantly glossed with metallic green. A distinctive white oval cheek*j*afch
at base of bill. Back and tail bl ack, with bold white streaks on scapulars
and flanks. Wings black with
a conspicuous broad white patch
along basal half when closed*
Neck, breast, and underparts
white.
At rest black and white plum-
age, and triangular mop-shaped
head with white cheek-patch,
peculiar. In flight, black head,
white cheek-patch, short-looking
white neck, black back between
streaked white scapulars, and
white patch on wings next to
body (secondaries and coverts) are leading clues.
DUCKS, GEESE, SWANS iSB
Male (in eclipse). Like female, but always retaining full Wing colour
with pure white speculum.
Female (adult). Head and neck hair-brown, with a dull white collar
round base. Upperparts mottled blackish and grey with a white wing-patch
(secondaries and coverts, in part). A grey band on upper breast (below
white collar), greyish flanks and vent. Rest of underparts white.
Young (immature). Male like adult female, somewhat larger and
darker. Female similar but with less white on wing. Male assumes adult
plumage in second year.
status, distribution and habitat. Uncommon winter visitor mainly
to W. Pakistan, N. India and Assam. Recorded from Sind (?), Punjab
(Attock, on the Indus), U.P. (Lucknow dist.), Bihar (Champaran dist.),
Assam (Lakhimpur dist.), Manipur, On open reaches of swift-flowing rivers
where these debouch from the hills, and on bheels.
ExtralimitaL ‘ Breeds from northern Scandinavia east across Europe and
Asia, north to the limit of trees, south to Germany, Balkans, central Russia
and Siberia to Kamchatka and Sakhalin. Winters from British Isles, Medi-
terranean, to southern China and Japan ’ (Peter Scott).
general habits. A diving duck like the pochards, partial outside the
breeding season to the sea coast. Inland it prefers fairly deep clear open
water to vegetation-covered jheels. Has been met with in winter in small
parties of 5 or 6. A good swimmer and diver; awkward on land. Flight swift
and erratic, with rapid strokes of the short, pointed Wings which produce
a peculiar whistling sound.
200 ANSERIFORMES
food. Mainly animal matter — molluscs, crustaceans, aquatic insects,
etc.
voice. Unrecorded in India. Elsewhere, female said to emit a loud
hoarse note occasionally; male a penetrating speer, speer , and in the spring
* a rasping, vibrating double note quee~reek * (Delacour).
breeding. Extralimital. Nest, a natural hollow in tree-trunks etc., lined
with down. Nest-boxes put up for it in likely places are frequently occupied.
Eggs, 6 to 15, bluish green. Average size of 200 eggs 55*2 X 42-5 mm.
(Baker).
Museum Diagnosis. For details of plumages, structure, etc. see Witherby 1939,
3:311-14.
Chick (in down). Sec Delacour 1959, 3: 178 (description); 256 (plate).
measurements
Wing
BiU
(from feathers)
Tarsus
Tail
cTc? 1
207-227
31-36
34-38
77-90 mm.
9 9
197-210
28-31
—
(Witherby)
Weight, c? 1 lb. 12 oz. to 2 lb. 8 oz. ( c . 795-1135 gm.); 9 1 lb. 8 oz. to 2 lb.
(e, 680-910 gm.) — Baker.
colours of bare parts, Iris golden yellow. Bill black. Legs and feet yellow
or orange with blackish webs. 9 Iris pale yellow or pale blue-green. Bill black,
with a yellow patch next to nail. Legs and feet brownish yellow.
Genus Mergus Linnaeus
Mergus Linnaeus, 1758, Syst Nat, ed. 10, 1:129. Type, by subsequent designation,
Mergus easier Linnaeus «* Mergus senator Linnaeus
Sexes dimorphic ; both with a nuchal crest Bill long, narrow, tapering throughout
with culmen nearly straight, the nail strongly hooked. Serrations or ( teeth * coarse,
with tips pointing backwards saw-like. Nostril large, oblong, placed between l and J
length of bill from base. Tarsi very short, placed far back on the body. Feet large
with well-lobed hallux. Tail fairly long, rounded, of 16 to 18 stiff cuneate feathers.
Key to the Species
Page
A Bill shorter than head M . albellus 201
B BiU longer than head 1
1 Head and neck black glossed with green a
Head and neck rufous b
a Lower parts white throughout
M . merganser (adult ) 203, 204
Upper breast rufous marked with black
M. senator (adult & ) 206
b Chin white, back grey *.
M. merganser (adult 9 and young c? ) 203, 204
Chin streaked with rufous, back brown.
M. senator (adult 9 End young rf 1 ) 206
DUCKS, GEESE, SWANS
201
Bills of M. merganser (A) and M. serrator
(B) to show differences in shape,
position of nostrils and feathering ( X c, i)
119. Smew. Mergus alb dim Linnaeus
Mtrgw Albellus Linnaeus, 1758, Sy*t. Nat., ed, 10, 1 : 129
(Mediterranean Sea near Smyrna)
Baker, FBI No. 2286, Veil. 6: 466
Plate 9, fig. 7, lacing p. 176
local names. Nikenne (Hindi );Jhdli (Sind).
size. Domestic duck — ; length c. 46 cm. (18 in.).
FIELD CHARACTERS.
Male (breeding). Predominantly white, with a large metallic black
patch on face, a black band from behind eye to nape, and drooping
nuchal crest. Back black with two black
streaks diverging from its anterior end
down each side of white breast. Sides of
body, and tail, grey. In flight an easily
recognized pied duck, mainly white,
with a broad black spinal band, dark
tail, and conspicuous black-and-white
x f.J wings.
Female (adult). Forehead, crown, nape, and short peak-like nuchal
crest chestnut-red. Throat and sides of head contrasty white. Back greyish
brown. Breast and flanks grey. Rest of underparts white. In flight the
contrasty chestnut and white head, greyish body and black-and-white wings
distinctive.
Male (in eclipse). Like female, but larger with some black on mantle
and larger white patch on secondaries.
Young (immature). Like female but paler, more uniform generally
and with the white wing-coverts tipped with ashy brown.
status, distribution and habitat. Uncommon and sparse but regular
winter visitor to W. Pakistan and northern India. Recorded from Balu-
chistan, Sind, NWFP, NW. Punjab, Delhi, Bhutan duars, NE. Assam;
South from N. Gujarat, Bihar (Hazaribagh), Orissa (Cuttack), W. Bengal
AN SERI FORMES
202
(Raniganj). Affects small open jheels, but chiefly clear Himalayan streams
where these debouch from the foothills into the plains.
Extralimital. ‘ Breeds in Europe and Asia from Scandinavia to Siberia
and south to the Volga, Turkestan and the Amur. Winters on coasts and
lakes from Britain, the Mediterranean, Persia, to China and Japan * (Peter
Scott).
general habits. Keeps in small parties; occasionally large flocks. A
fast swimmer and proficient diver. Normally rides high on the water but,
like the pochards, will lower itself considerably on alarm. Flies swiftly with
rapid though noiseless beats of the pointed wings.
food. Mainly fish. Crustaceans, molluscs, aquatic insects and their
larvae, worms, etc. also taken; occasionally some vegetable matter.
Mergus alMIus
voice. Unrecorded in India.
breeding. Extralimital. Col. A. E. Ward’s record of breeding in Ladakh
has not been confirmed, and is doubtful. Nest, in natural hollows in tree-
trunks near water; sometimes in nest-boxes in Finland. Eggs, 6 to 10, pale
creamy buff. Average size of 137 eggs 52 *2 x 37*5 mm. (Baker).
Museum Diagnosis. For detailed description of plumages and structure see
Witherby 1939, 3; 377-9.
Chick (in down.) See Delacour 1959, 3: 193 (description), 256 (plate).
MEASUREMENTS
Wing Bill Tarsus Tail
(from feathers)
< 5 * 0 * 192-205 26-30 30-32 71-76 mm.
9 9 178-186 25-28 — —
(Witherby)
DUCKS, GEESE, SWANS 20$
Weight <$» 1 lb. 4 oz. to 1 lb. 12 or. (e. 565-795 gm.); 9 1 lb. to 1 lb. 8 or. (e.
450-675 gm.) — Baker.
colours of bar B parts. Iris cT bright red (pearl grey in very old birds — Baker) ;
9 reddish brown. Bill plumbeous, nail greyish white; 9 dark lead-grey tinged
greenish laterally, nail whitish. Legs and feet & plumbeous; 9 paler and tinged
with green, webs black (Witherby).
Mergus merganser Linnaeus
Key to the Subspecies
Wing: 283-295 mm.; 9 250-267 mm M. m. merganser
Wing: c? 243-284 mm.; 9 189-257 mm M. m. orientalis
120. Goosander or Common Merganser. Mergus merganser merganser
Linnaeus
Mergus Merganser Linnaeus, 1758, Syst. Nat., ed. 10, 1: 129 (Sweden)
Baker, FBI No. 2287, Vol. 6: 469
local names. Unrecorded.
size. Domestic duck + ; slimmer. Length c . 66 cm. (26 in.).
FIELD CHARACTERS.
Male (breeding). Head, crest, and upper neck black glossed with metallic
green and purple. Mantle (scapulars) glossy black ; lower back, rump, and
upper tail-coverts grey vermiculated with
white. Tail silvery brown. Primaries black;
secondaries and coverts white or partly white.
Extreme upper back, lower neck* and
underparts white, faintly tinged with salmon-
pink.
In flight general aspect black and white
with slender head and neck, narrow pointed
Female (adult). Head, crest, and neck dark chestnut and cinnamon-
brown; chin and upper throat white. Upperparts mottled bluish grey-
brown. Primaries blackish; secondaries white and grey, forming a
conspicuous white speculum. Tail grey-brown. Underparts white, striped
with grey on flanks.
In flight rufous head, grey back, white underparts, black-and-white wings,
thin neck, pointed red bill, and red legs distinctive.
Male (in eclipse). Resembles female, but retains white wing-coverts.
Young (immature)* Male like adult female but upperparts browner,
head paler, chin and throat less white.
Chick (in down). SeeDelacour 1959, 3: 217 (description), 256 (plate)*
Bill from above X c. i
red bill, and red legs.
204
AN SERI FORMES
/ Merganser m . merganser 2 M. m. orientalls
121. Eastern Merganser. Mergus merganser orientalis Gould
Mergus Orientalis Gould, 1845, Proc. Zool. Soc. London: 1 (Amoy, China)
Baker, FBI No. 2288, Vol. 6: 472
Vol. 2, Plate 20
local name. None recorded.
size. Slightly smaller than 120. Length c. 63 cm. (25 in.).
FIELD CHARACTERS.
Male (breeding). Differs from western (nominate) race in somewhat
smaller size and greater extent of black on mantle. Grey of lower back and
rump paler and more freckled with white ; salmon-pink tinge on underparts
more pronounced.
Female, male in eclipse, and immature male differ from adult as in the
western form (q.v.).
status, distribution and habitat. Chiefly winter visitor. Rare in NW.
India; Nepal; fairly common in the E. Himalayan foothills. Status of the
two races within our limits uncertain. Specimens of nominate race taken
in winter in West Pakistan (Sind, Makran coast), U.P., Maharashtra
(Bombay), M.P. (Raipur district, ssp.?), and NE. Assam (Lohit river).
M. m. orientalis partly resident in Ladakh (and possibly in N. Sikkim), but
specimens collected in Ladakh in May /June approximate in coloration
and wing measurement to nominate race (Meinertzhagen, Ibis, 1927; 616),
205
DUCKS, GEESE, SWANS
Sight records racially indeterminate. Affects large rivers and lakes; also
fast-flowing streams, especially where these debouch from the northern hills
into the plains.
ExtralimitaL AT. m. merganser breeds in Europe and Asia from Iceland,
British Isles, Switzerland, the Balkans, to Kamchatka, the Kurile and
Commander Islands. South in winter to Mediterranean and China.
M, m. orientalis breeds principally in Afghanistan, Turkestan, Altai, Tibet.
Winters N. India, N. Burma and China (Szechuan) and farther east, where
it occurs with the nominate race (Peter Scott).
general habits. An expert swimmer and diver, perfectly at home on
icy torrential E. Himalayan streams. Apparently uncomfortable on land.
When disturbed resting on bank, shuffles into water on its breast. Keeps
in pairs or small parties of 5 to 8 — often the sexes separate — which
coalesce into larger mixed flocks of 40-50, or more, while coursing up and
down to hunt in favourite reaches of clear rapid streams. Characteristically
follows their bends, seldom deviating or altering course even at sight of a
gunner. Usually flies low almost clipping the wavelets, effectively camou-
flaged against the shimmering background of wet stones and cascading
water. Often hunts by cooperative effort like cormorants, a flock swimming
in a semicircle from bank to bank across a rapid rippling stream, herding
small fish into the less turbulent shallows near the banks — dashing and
splashing in the white water in pursuit and diving energetically after the
quarry. Little Egrets ( Egretta garzetta) commonly take advantage of this
habit by attending on the hunting flocks, leap-frogging over the duck, back
and forth, to take up advance positions on the banks, and seizing any fish
stranded in the marginal shallows in their rush to escape. When cruising
in calm water, the males especially have a curious habit of arching their
necks, and then darting their bills vertically upwards. This is not in an
effort to swallow some large morsel, but evidently a kind of display (R. E.
Parsons).
food. Almost exclusively fish (up to 125 or 150 mm. long), for seizing
which the serrated bill is specially adapted. In Britain 49 perch averaging
3 inches (75 mm.), and a young pike, have been taken from a single stomach
(Witherby). Occasionally also some crustaceans, aquatic insects, etc. along
with a quantity of pebbles.
voice. Only an occasional croak or krrr recorded in India.
breeding. Within our limits A/, m. orientalis (?) breeds in Ladakh
(possibly also in northern Sikkim and Bhutan) at elevations between c . 3000
and 4000 metres, and perhaps higher, e.g. on Tso Moriri and Pangong
lakes, and Indus and Tankse rivers (B. B. Osmaston, R. Meinertzhagen),
Season . No nests with eggs found, but downy ducklings reported on various
lakes in June. Nest, (in Tibet) in hollows and crevices in crumbling rock
cliffs, lined with rubbish, and thickly with down. Eggs 9 6 to 10 ( ?) like those
of Goosander but darker and smaller — pale buff or stone-buff, close and
fine textured, fairly glossy. Average size of 20 eggs 64-6 x 44 • 8 mm. (Baker) .
Incubation period ?. In Af. m. merganser full clutch of 7 to 16 eggs; incubation
period 28-32 days (Delacour).
Museum Diagnosis. For description of plumages, structure, etc. of nominate
race see Witherby 1939, 3j 364-7.
206
ANSER I FORMES
MEASUREMENTS
Wing
Bill
(from feathers)
Tarsus
T«a
M. nu merganser & <? 283-295
55-61
46-50
104-1 15 mm.
9 9 250-267
45-51
(Witherby)
—
M. m. orientalis 243-284
49-54
—
»
9 9 189-257
Wing c? 275-^85; 9 244-275
40-47
(Delacour).
(Baker)
Weight & 2 lb. 12 oz. to 3 lb. 5 oz. ( c . 1250-1500 gm.); 9 2 lb. to 2 lb. 10 oz.
(c. 910-1195 gm.) — Hume.
colours of bare partb. Iris <f» carmine or deep red, sometimes tinged with
brown in younger birds; 9 brown. Bill vermilion; culmen sometimes rather dusky
in non-breeding season; nail black. Legs and feet bright vermilion. Colours in 9
duller.
122. Redbreasted Merganser. Mergus serrator senator Linnaeus
Mergus Senator Linnaeus, 1758, Syst. Nat., ed. 10, 1: 129 (Sweden)
Baker, FBI No. 2289, Vol. 6: 473
Plate 9, fig. 8, facing p. 176
local names. None recorded.
size. Domestic duck — ; slimmer. Length c . 58 cm. (23 in.).
field characters. Smaller and slimmer than Goosander, with a promi-
nent straggly, backwardly-directed double crest (with an upper and lower
portion) sticking out stiffly from hindcrown.
Male (breeding). Differs from male Goosander (with entire underparts
white) in having a dark band (blotchy chestnut and black) on upper breast;
rest of underparts white. This comparative feature particularly helpful in
identification at distance and in flight. Head, crest, throat and upper neck
glossy blackish green. A broad white collar below this, interrupted on
hindneck by a black longitudinal stripe continuing from nape into black
upper back. Black of back broader, with bold white spots in a chequer
pattern at its anterior end covering wing-shoulder. A broad white lateral
band along closed wing (secondaries and coverts). Lower back, rump,
upper tail-coverts, and upper flanks pale grey vermiculated with black.
Male (in eclipse). Like female, but with the mantle darker; wings more
or less as in breeding male.
Female (adult). Rather like female Goosander. Crown, crest (shorter
than male’s), nape, and hindneck brown; sides of head and neck cinnamon.
Chin, throat, and foreneck duller, rufous-washed white. Upperparts dark
greyish brown, scalloped paler. Wings as in male but with less white, Under*
parts white, the breast and sides mottled with ashy brown.
Young (immature) male like adult female, but overall more brown
less grey. Crest shorter; bare parts duller coloured.
status, distribution and habitat. Vagrant in winter* Only six authentic
occurrences within our limits: four in W. Pakistan [ Charbar, Makran
207
DUCKS, GEESE, SWANS
toast, November 1875; Sind (Karachi harbour); Baluchistan, Quetta dist.
(Khushdil Khan lake 1902, Pishin 1908)] and two in W. Bengal: an example
procured in f Calcutta market, presumably from that neighbourhood
(December 1889), and another more recently (January 1961) in the
24-Parganas district (Biswas, in epist.). According to C. B. Ticehurst (JBNHS
32: 95) a not uncommon winter visitor to the Makran coast; recorded from
Ormara, Charbar and Jask (December /January).
M trgus ser rotor
Extralimital. * Breeds in suitable places throughout northern Europe,
Asia, N. America (including British Isles). South in winter to the Medi-
terranean, Persian Gulf, China, Formosa, Gulf of Mexico, and Florida *
(Peter Scott).
general HABITS. Not markedly different from those of the Goosander
(q- v *)-
breeding. Extralimital. Unlike Goosander does not usually nest in
tree hollows. Nest, large, compact, of moss, grass, etc. lined with down.
In dense cover of bushes, or in holes in banks and cliffs. * Eggs, 7 to 12
greyish to greenish buff, 65 X 45 mm.; incubation 26-28 days’ (Delacour).
Museum Diagnosis. Bill proportionately longer and narrower than in Goosander,
less hooked at tip, and with more teeth or lamellae. See figures, p. 201.
Chick (in down). See Delacour 1959, 3: 210 (description), 256 (plate).
MEASUREMENTS
Wing Bill Tarsus Tail
(from feathers)
244-252 53-62 40-45 79-88 mm.
9 9 217-231 48-55 — —
208 ANSERIFORMES *
Two adult obtained in India have wings of c. 253 and 254 mm*
Weight 1 lb* 12 oz. to 2 lb* 4 oz. ($. 790-1025 gm.); 9 under 2 lb* (910 gets.);
possibly goes somewhat higher — (Baker). /
colours op bare parts. Iris (J» carmine or red-brown; 9 brown or red-bn>wn,
sometimes carmine. Bill <? orange-red to deep vermilion, the edge of culmen and
nail black; 9 duller, more orange-red with the culmen dusky over a greater area*
Legs and feet orange-red to deep vermilion, the joints and webs duskier. Duller
in 9 *
Genus Oxyura Bonaparte
Oxyura Bonaparte, 1828, Ann. Lyc. Nat. Hist. New York 2: 390. Type, by monotypy,
Anas rubifas Wilson
Erismatura Bonaparte, 1832, Giorn. Acad. Sci. Lett Arti, Roma, 53(54): 208, new
s; . name for Oxyura Bonaparte
Bill large, veryiwollen at base; nail small and curved inwards. Culmen concave;
anterior part of mil flat and broad, the lamellae coarse and set fat apart. Nostrils
large, oval, placed nearer to base than to tip of bill. Tarsi short, platted far back
as in Diving Ducks; feet very large; middle toe almost twice length of tarsus; hind
toe broadly lobed. Wings short and pointed. Tail well graduated, of very narrow,
stiff feathers, longer than tarsus; tail*cdverts short and scanty. Sexes slightly dimor-
phic.
1 23. Whiteheaded Stifftailed Duck* Oxyura leucocephala (Scopoli)
Anas leucocephala Scopoli, 1 769, Annus I Hist. Nat. : 65
(probably from northern Italy)
Baker, FBI No. 2285, Vol. 6 : 463
Plate 9, fig. 9, feeing p. 176
local names. None recorded.
size. Domestic duck — ; length c. 46 cm. (c, 18 in.). *
FIELD characters. A little larger than Common Teal, but squat and
tubby, with very peculiar bill and tail. Bill very high and swollen at base,
sinking abruptly and broadening to-
wards tip. Tail of stiff, narrow,
pointed feathers with very short
coverts at its base, looking like a
bunch of wires artificially stuck in;
often carried comically upright when
swimming.
Male (breeding). Head white,
with a black patch on crown, and
slaty blue to sky-blue bill. Neck
blackish, fading into chestnut on
PLATE 11 ™
1 Butastur Uesa , White-eyed Buzzard-Eagle (157). 2 Butastur liventer, Rufouswinged Buzzard-
Eagle (SE). 3 Icthyophaga n, plumbea, Himalayan Greyheaded Fishing Eagle (177). 4 Holt-
aeetus leucoryphus , Pallas’s Fishing Eagle (174). 5 Milvus m. govinda , Pariah Kite (133). 6
Hatiastur i. indus, Brahminy Kite (135). 7 Elanus c. voctferus, Blackwinged Kite (124). 8
Accipiter b. poliopsis , Shikra (140). 9 Aviceda /. leuphotes, Indian Bladccrested Baza (127). 10
Circus melanoleueos, Pied Harrier ( 192), 6 •
x f.J
DUCKS, GEESE, SWANS 209
upper breast and sides, and to rusty grey on back and mantle. Lower back
and rump pencilled with black. Upper tail-coverts chestnut, finely pencilled
with black. Underparts silvery white mottled with grey. Wings grey.
Female (adult) and male in eclipse have the head and neck brown
with blackish bars; the crown darker. A conspicuous whitish line below eye
from bill to nape. Throat and sides of upper neck whitish; rest of plumage
as in breeding male, somewhat greyer and paler, with finer barring.
Young (immature). Like adult female; male redder on back.
status, distribution and habitat. Casual and sparse winter visitor
mainly to the northwestern portions of our area. Sporadically but not
infrequently recorded (specimens and observation) from W. Pakistan (Pesha-
war, Nowshera, Shahpur, Kohat districts), Punjab (Gujrat and Mianwali
dists.), Baluchistan (Langi-nawar, Nushki and Quetta dists.), Sind (Larkana
and Sukkur dists.), Bahawalpur. In recent years found in large numbers
on certain lakes on the Punjab Salt Range — Khabakki, Kallar Kahar,
Natnmal. Maximum number counted 723 (February 1965) on Khabakki
(C. D. W. Savage). Also N. India — E, Punjab (Ludhiana disk), Kashmir,
Delhi disk, Uttar Pradesh (Pilibhit and Hardwar dists.). Not farther east
or south except reportedly twice in Calcutta market (Finn). On large
freshwater lakes and brackish lagoons with underwater vegetation.
ExtralimitaL Breeds in the Mediterranean, Black and Caspian Sea areas,
and Turkestan. Winters south to Egypt, Palestine and Iraq.
general habits. In many ways reminiscent of the grebes. Keeps in
parties of a half dozen or so, and flocks of 20 to 30. Very local, usually
affecting particular portions of a lake either by itself or in association with
grebes; rarely with other ducks. Normally rides very low on the water, like
Qxyura leucocephal*
Breeding range Winter extension
14
FALCONIFORMES
210
a cormorant, shewing only head, a small portion of rump, and the stiff,
pointed tail cocked vertically when at rest; lowered into water when swim-
ming. Flight laboured and grebe-like, preceded by much skittering on the
surface to take off. But is an expert swimmer and diver, seeking safety in
the water in preference to flying away even when closely approached.
Partially submerges itself to escape observation, swimming away from the
intruder with only the head and part of rounded back showing, and body
and tail out of sight, thus looking like a dabchick in the distance. Dives by
quietly lowering itself and vanishing below, or by rolling over smoothly
like a porpoise, head in first, the whole back, tail, and legs turned over in
succession. The tail is bent downwards, with the legs showing below, these
parts being the last to go under.
food. Mainly vegetable matter: corms, seeds, and leaves of aquatic
plants; also insect larvae, molluscs, and crustaceans. The stomach of an
Indian-killed example contained vegetable matter exclusively (W. A.
Whitehead, JBNHS 35: 212).
voice and calls. None recorded in winter.
breeding. Extralimital. Nest, a floating pad of reeds and rushes overlaid
with down; anchored and concealed among reeds and sedges. Eggs, 6 to 13,
white, about 66 x 50 mm.; incubation period unrecorded (Delacour).
Museum Diagnosis
Chick (in down). See Delacour 1959, 3: 242 (description), 256 (plate).
MEASUREMENTS
Wing Bill
(from feathers)
Tarsus
Tail
d'd”
155-165 46-48
34-37
110-112 mm.
9 9
150-155 43-45
—
(Delacour)
22 specimens from the Punjab Salt Range give
-
Wing Bill
(from feathers)
Tarsus
8cf 6
164- 172
46-47
43-46 mm.
14$ 2
150-167
43-46
41-45 mm.
(C. D. W, Savage)
colours of bare parts. Iris dark brown. Bill generally slaty blue turning to
pale sky- or ultramarine blue just before emigration in February-March (C. D, W.
Savage); 9 and imm. duller. Legs and feet plumbeous-black, the webs and toes
black.
Order Falconiformes
Family Accipitridae. Hawks, Vultures, etc.
Bill short with upper mandible longer than lower, curved and strongly hooked
at tip: basal portion covered with a cere, usually bright coloured, in which the
nostrils are situated. Feet strong, furnished with powerful hooked claws. Hallux
always present. Sexes more or less alike; female usually larger.
For further details of structure and morphology see Stresemann 1927-34, Aves:
811-16; Baker 1928, FBI 5: 1-2; Witherby 1939, 3:1. >4
HAWKS, VULTURES, ETC.
Key to the Genera
A Head and neck bare . . , 1
B Head and neck feathered , 2
1 Bill slender a
Bill stout b
a Nostrils elongate and horizontal. Neophron
b Nostrils a narrow vertical slit Gyps
Nostrils round or oval I
I No wattle on neck Aegypius
Fleshy wattle on either side of neck Torgos
2 Bill lengthened and vulturine in shape; claws blunt; a tuft of long
bristles on the chin Gypaetus
Bill short and aquiline in shape ; claws sharp and generally greatly
curved; no tuft on chin c
c Tarsus completely feathered in front and behind II
Tarsus naked or partially feathered Ill
II Claws but little curved, inner longer than hind Ictinaetus
Claws much curved, hind claw longer than inner a 1
a 1 Primaries exceeding secondaries by less than length of tarsus
, * Spizaetus
Primaries exceeding secondaries by more than length of
tarsus b 1
b 1 Occipital crest much developed Lopholriorchis
Occipital crest lacking or rudimentary c 1
c l Inner toe (without claw) longer than culmen (without
cere) Hieraaetus
Inner toe (without daw) about same length as or shorter
than cuimcn (without cere) Aquila
III Both sides of upper mandible with two sharply pointed conical
‘ teeth * Aviceda
Upper mandible without ‘ teeth * a*
a* Lores feathered Pemis
Lores unfeathered b*
b 1 Tarsus long, two or more times length of bill from tip to
gape c 1
Tarsus short, less than two times length of bill from tip
to gape c*
c® Feathers across throat and up each side of neck forming
conspicuous ruff Circus
Ruff not present d
d Nuchal crest absent or pointed .Accipiier
Nuchal crest broad covering whole nape
Spilornis
c 8 Front of tarsus covered with large overlapping hexagonal
scales Butastur
Front of tarsus covered with vermiculations or small
hexagonal scales d 1
Front of tarsus scutellate d*
d 1 Size small (length c . 33 cm, » 13 in.) ; second primary
longest Elmus
Size larger (length c. 56-68 cm. 22-27 in.); third
211
Page
310
301
208
296
314
283
258
270
265
272
214
221
316
232
329
256
212
212
FALCONIFORMES
Page
or fourth primary longest . t
e Claws grooved beneath . CAumtus 326
Claws not grooved beneath Pandion 335
d* Tail forked Milvus 224
Tail not forked c l
e 1 Tarsus scutellated behind f
Tarsus with large reticulations or hexagonal scales
behind f 1
f Primaries deeply notched BuUo 251
Primaries not deeply notched kthyophaga 292
f 1 Third primary longest Haliaeetus 285
Fourth primary longest Haliastur 230
Genus Elan us Savigny
Elanus Savigny, 1809, Descr. Egypte 1 : 69, 97. Type, by monotypy, Elams caesius
Savigny = Falco caertdeus Dcsfontaincs
Bill small, wide at base, compressed near tip; culmen sharply curved from cere;
festoon^distinct. Nostrils oval, nearly horizontal, protected by long loral bristles.
Wings long and pointed, reaching beyond tip of tail ; second primary (as.) longest.
Tail moderately long, slightly forked. 'Farsi short and stout, feathered in front for
more than half their length; naked parts reticulated throughout. Toes strong,
reticulated above except near claws; lateral toes subequal in length. Middle claw
keeled, the others rounded beneath.
The genus contains small hawks allied to Kites (Milvus), occurring in America,
Africa, and Asia to Australia. Only one species ( E , caeruleus ) represented in India.
124. Blackwinged Kite, Elanus caeruleus vociferus (Latham)
Falco vociferus Latham, 1790, Index Orn., 1:46
(India -- Coromandel Coast, ex Sonnerat, apud Hartert)
Baker, FBI No. 1789, Vol. 5: 125
Plate 11, fig. 7, facing p. 208
local names. Kdp&ssi (Hindi; Bengali); Mdsunwd (Oudh); Chdnwd (Nepal);
Adavi ramadasu (Tclugu); Argellur (Yerkali); Velli-eriyan (Malayalam) ; Kurulla goya t
Ukussa (Sinhala).
size. House Grow — ; length c. 33 cm. (13 in,).
field characters. A small dainty grey and white hawk. Grown, nape,
back, rump, and upper tail-coverts pale ashy grey ; rest of head and neck,
x e . 1
underparts, and tail pure white. A black
line from lores to behind the blood-
red eyes, and black patches on wing
shoulders conspicuous at rest and also
in flight. Tips of closed wings (black)
extend beyond short square (slightly
forked) tail. Sexes alike.
In flight, colour pattern resembles
Pale Harrier (q.v.) which also has
black wing tips (primaries). But larger
size of Harrier slimmer streamlined
HAWKS, VULTURES, ETC. 243
body, longer pointed wings, buoyant sailing flight, and absence of black
shoulder-patches readily distinguish it.
Young (immature). Brownish ashy above scalloped paler. Wing
coverts (black and grey) also edged with whitish. Remiges and rectrices
tipped white. Breast tinged with buff or finely streaked with fulvous.
status, distribution and habitat. Resident. Widely but patchily
distributed from W, Pakistan [Baluchistan (straggler), Sind, Bahawalpur,
W. Punjab] east to Assam plains and Manipur, and from the Himalayan
foothills (from c. 1600 m.) and terai south to Kanyakumari; up to c, 1200 m.
in the peninsular hills. Nepal, chiefly terai and lowlands, but recorded at
r. 1370 m. (Biswas). Ceylon (all zones to c. 2100 mm.); Laccadive Islands.
Aflects deciduous biotope: sparse savannah forest, secondary scrub
country and grassland interspersed with cultivation; riverain tamarisk and
kandi ( Prosopis ) jungle in W. Pakistan and semi-desert areas.
Extralimital, east to S. Yunnan, south to N. Tenasserim and the Indo-
chinese countries.
The darker nominate race inhabits practically all Africa and Madagascar;
occasionally found in S. Europe.
local movements. Seasonal local fluctuations, and appearances and
disappearances often recorded, e.g, in Coorg (* regular winter migrant ’ * ■
F. N. Betts), but no precise data.
general habits. Keeps singly or in widely scattered pairs. Somewhat
crepuscular; more so in some localities and at certain times than others,
presumably dependent on habits of the prevailing food supply. Adopts a
favourite patch of open grass-and-scrub jungle, occupying the same pole
or tree-top within it day after day. From this perch surveys the surroundings
— cocking up the tail from time to time, opening and closing it, raising and
lowering it gently or jerking it up and down between the drooping wings —
and pounces on any prey that stirs on the ground. More usually quarters
the territory, flying and sailing in wide circles 30 metres or so above, turning
every now and then to face the wind and hover like a kestrel (‘ over a
minute * — SA) to scan the ground. On suspicion of movement, parachutes
obliquely down a few metres to investigate more closely — wings open and
upraised back to back, with only the tips quivering. The parachute descent,
controlled by slight up and down manipulations of the tail, is often interrupt
ted with bouts of stationary hovering to make sure, the legs being gradually
let down in readiness at the same time. Finally when within striking range,
the wings are pulled in and the bird drops or stoops on the quarry with a
rush, bearing it away in its claws.
Flight sluggish, with deliberate wing-beats, strongly reminiscent of a gull
or roller (in head-on silhouette also of a flying fox), alternated with spurts
of sailing. When in pursuit, bird capable of swift falcon-like dash. Once
"carried off a wounded quail 1 with quite the rapidity and dash of a peregrine '
(Butler, SF 3: 448).
Roosts communally at night in leafy trees, 15-20 birds or more converging
on the selected one at dusk from over a wide area.
food. Locusts, grasshoppers, crickets, and other insects. Lizards, field
rats and mice, young and sickly birds, etc. Snake and frog also taken among
stomach contents.
214
FALGONI FORMES
voice and cau-s. Normally silent. A thin high-pitched squeal occasional.
A soft whistle as of man (A. E. Jones) .
breeding. Season, very extended, varying locally to cover practically
entire year, with a marked recession in April and May. Nest, loose, untidy,
crow-like; of twigs, lined with roots and grass; sometimes unlined. Placed
in a small tree, seldom above c. 9 metres from ground. Eggs, 3 to 5 or 6 —
most commonly 3 or 4 — richly coloured, handsome, highly variable.
Ground colour white to pale cream, buff, or yellowish stone, boldly blotched,
smeared and spotted with deep red or reddish brown, occasionally with a
few scattered specks of blackish blood-red. Last laid egg of a clutch often
very poorly marked. Average size of 100 eggs 39*3 X 30*9 mm. (Baker).
Both sexes share all domestic chores; major part in nest-building and
incubation by female, in forgaging for young by male.
Museum Diagnosis
MEASUREMENTS
Wing
Bill
(from skull)
Tarsus
Tail
260-276
20-23
30-37
116-124 mm.
9 9
262-283
23-24
c. 36
119-130 mm.
(SA)
colours of bare parts. Iris, adult crimson; imm, yellow or yellow-brown.
Bill black; cere and gape pale yellow. Legs and feet deep yellow; claws black.
Genus A vice da Swainson
Aviceda Swainson, 1836, Classif. Bds., 1 : 300. Type, by subsequent designation,
Aviceda cuculoides Swainson, 1837, op. cit. 2: 214
Baza Hodgson, 1837, Jour. Asiat. Soc. Bengal, 5: 777. Type, by original designation.
Baza syama Hodgson
Small to medium sized hawks. Head with thin upstanding crest. Bill strong and
well curved. Cutting edge of upper mandible furnished with two sharp conical
‘ teeth ' on each side near tip; lower mandible with three or four pointed serrations
on each side near tip. Cere small; nostril very narrow, slanting, placed at anterior
edge of cere, partly covered by a membrane. Lores pardy feathered as in Honey
Buzzard ( Berms ). Tarsus short, stout, scuteilated in front and above the toes, reticu-
lated elsewhere; feathered in front on upper third or more. Claws small, well curved,
almost subequal in length. Wings moderately pointed. Tail longish, square-ended
or very slightly graduated.
Key to the Specie*
Upper plumage brown, fourth primary longest A . jerdoni
Upper plumage black, third primary longest A. leuphotis
Page
215
218
Aviceda jerdoni (Blyth)
Key to the Subspecies
Larger, wing over 320 mm A. j. jetdoni
Smaller, wing under 315 mm A, j. ceytonensis
HAWKS, VULTURES, ETC. 215
125. Blyth’* Bata or Northern Brown Lizard Hawk. Aviceda jerdoni
jerdoni {Blyth)
Pemis Jerdoni Blyth, 1842, Jour. Asiat. Soc. Bengal, 11:464
(no type locality = Malacca)
Baker, FBI No. 1824, Vol. 5:174
local names. None, recorded.
size. Jungle Crow; length c . 48 cm. (19 in.).
field characters. A moderate sized brown hawk with rufous and
black head and a prominent upstanding black occipital crest, narrowly
white-tipped. Chin and throat rufous and white, with a bold black mesial
stripe. Breast rufous-brown; rest of underparts conspicuously barred with
rufous-brown and white. Tail brown with three dark bands, the terminal
one broadest and darkest.
On a casual view could be confused with the Crested Goshawk ( Accipiter
trivirgatus) of somewhat similar coloration, also crested, q.v.
Female (adult). Much paler throughout, with breast fulvous-white
instead of rufous.
Young (immature). Like adult female, but paler; with four, or some-
times five, distinct dark bands in tail, the basal one partly concealed ; bases
of rectrices much mottled with white. Still younger birds have feathers of
upper plumage fringed with white, and underparts even paler and more
feebly barred and streaked than in female.
status, distribution and habitat. Resident. Rare. Darjeeling district
(W. Bengal), Sikkim to eastern Assam, between r. 350 and 1800 m. altitude,
with some seasonal up and down movement. Confined to evergreen foothills
biotope.
ExtralimitaL Burma, Thailand, Malay Peninsula, Sumatra.
1 A. j, jerdoni; 2 A. j. ccylonensis
Range
216
FALCONIFORMES
general habits. largely crepuscular. Even lesser known than of the *
southern race (Np. 126). Usually keeps in pairs, but family parties of 3 to 5
occasionally seen flying and sailing in circles at treetop height at the edge
of a forest clearing. Flight rather sluggish.
food. Lizards, grasshoppers, and other large insects. The stomach
contents of a specimen (Kurseong) included two Agamid lizards ( Japallura
variegala ), several longicorn beetles and mantises (Coleoptcra, Orthopttera)
— D’Abrcu, JBNHS 20:518.
voice and calls. Not recorded.
breeding. Only two authentic records, both from Darjeeling district,
W. Bengal, at c. 610 and 1825 m. elevation; April and June. The nests —
small and compact, of sticks, lined with green leaves — were placed among
stout branches of large forest trees at heights of c. 10 and 20 metres respec-
tively. Eggs, 2 in each, closely resembling Shikra’s (Accipiter badius ), greyish
white, stained from contact with leafy nest-lining. (Sometimes with sparse
reddish blotches and specks.) Fine-texturcd, smooth, broad oyals. Average
size of the 4 eggs 44-7 v 36-5 mm. (Baker).
Share of the sexes in the nesting chores, and incubation period,
unrecorded.
Museum Diagnosis. Wing structure of A.jerdoni differs from A. leuphotes in having
the 4th primary (as.) longest instead of 3rd; or sometimes 4th and 5th subequah
MEASUREMENTS
Wing Bill Tarsus Tail
(from feathers)
cf 9 327 (Sumatra) ' 29-30 35-40 210-244 mm.
360 (Sikkim)
colours ok ware pauts. Iris golden yellow. Bill plumbeous black, base bluish
slate; tip and culmen quite black; cere pale bluish plumbeous to almost black.
Legs and feet chrome yellow or ‘ white slightly tinged with blue * (Hume), or * tarsus
china white 5 (Stevens's : claws horny black (Baker).
120. Legge’s Baza or Southern Brown Lizard Hawk. Aviceda jerdoni
ceylon crisis (Leggc)
Baza ceylonmsis Legge, 1876, Stray Feathers, 4:247 (near Kandy, Ceylon)
Baker, FBI No. 1 825, Vol. 5:175
Plate 13, fig. 3, facing p. 240
local names. Kurulla goya (Sinhala) ; Parimdu (Tamil) ; Prapparundu (Malayalam).
size. Jungle Crow; length c . 48 cm. (19 in.).
field characters. Similar to the last (No. 125) sex for sex and age
for age, only slightly smaller (see Measurements). General shape in air,
and wing action, reminiscent of a small buzzard. Crest depressed in flight ;
characteristically erect from occiput when bird at rest.
status, distribution and habitat. One Df the peculiar discontinuously
distributed Indo-Malayan forms separated from its nearest east-Himalayan
relative by at least 1900 km. of ecologically unsuited country. Resident,
but scattered and rare in south-west India south of c. I2*N. W,
HAWKS, VULTURES, ETC. 217
Mysore and Kerala (including Coorg and Wynaad), and Ceylon (hill zone
in Central and tlva provinces). Affects evergreen forest biotope in the
foothills between c . 1 50 and 900 metres altitude,
general habits. Like No. 125, shy and rather crepuscular. Sluggish
on the wing, flying with strong flaps alternated with short intervals of
gliding. Keeps in pairs or family parties of 3 to 5 — the young birds distin-
guishable by their much paler coloration — to hilly forested country where
sometimes met with on the edge of sholas and clearings. Still-hunts lizards
and large insects, pouncing on them from its look-out perch in a leafy tree.
Prey carried in beak not in talons. Rarely seen except when flying in circles
at treetop height or soaring aloft. On approach of breeding season much
given to extravagant aerobatics accompanied by excited mewing screams,
kip-kip-kip or kikiya, kikiya , etc., at times confusingly like the calls of the
Palm Squirrel (Funambulus).
display. The pair soar round each other in circles high up in the air.
The male (?) suddenly nose-dives steeply with half-closed wings for 10 to 15
metres, uttering a loud, sharp kip-kip-kip ; then, using the momentum, he
doubles upon himself and zooms almost vertically upwards. When on the
crest of the curve, standing on his tail as it were, and seemingly about to
stall and topple over backwards, he presently rights himself and continues
to soar around. These spectacular antics are repeated at short intervals
(F. N. Betts, JBNHS 36: 258; 50: 251).
food. Lizards, frogs, large insects, and other small animals. Calotes
calotes and field rat ( Golunda ellioti) recorded in Ceylon (Phillips).
voice and calls. Besides the courtship cries, a loud plaintive mewing
pee-ow uttered by both sexes while circling in the air (W. W. A. Phillips).
Also a conversational 6 long drawn mournful guceer with something of the
intonation of a serpent eagle's cry ’ (Mrs Lushington).
breeding. Copulation accompanied by loud cries observed in tree on
26 September. Season , in SW. India normally February through April; in
Ceylon during the NE. monsoon, from c. November to May. Nest, a well-
made smallish structure (shallow cup) of leafy twigs, occasionally lined with
grass and roots but always with fresh green leaves. Built 7 to 20 metres up
in a leafy tree in humid forest; sometimes in trees standing in tea plan-
tations. Eggs, 2 or 3, greyish white getting stained during incubation;
indistinguishable from those of the northern race. Average size of 32 eggs
44*9 X 33*6 mm. (Baker), Both birds participate in building the nest.
Share in incubation, and incubation period, unrecorded.
Museum Diagnosis
MEASUREMENTS
Wing Bill Tarsus Tail
(from feathers)
299-312 28-29 36-37 201-211 mm.
colours of bare parts. As in the nominate race (No. 125).
Aviceda lkuphotes (Dumont)
Key to the Subspecies
Band across chest mainly rufous and chestnut A i kupfoates
Band across chest nearly all black A. L syama
210 FALCON1FORMES
127. Indian Blackcrested Baza or Lizard Hawk. Aviceda leuphoUs
leuphotes (Dumont)
Falco leuphotes Dumont, 1820, Diet. Sci. Nat., 16: 217 (Pondicherry)
Baker, FBI No. 1822, Vol. 5: 171
Plate 11, fig. 9, facing p, 208 and Plate 13, fig. 5, facing p. 240
local name. Prapparandu (Malayalam).
size. Pigeon length c. 33 cm. (13 in.).
field characters. A handsome, prominently crested black and white
hawk with barred underparts and black belly.
Adult. Above, black, including head with long upstanding occipital
crest, neck, back, rump, tail-coverts and tail. Conspicuous white and
chestnut blotches on scapulars and flight feathers. Below , foreneck and
upper breast black; a broad white gorget below it, succeeded by a black-
and-chestnut band. Lower breast and flanks bufTy white boldly barred
with chestnut. Centre of abdomen, vent, and under tail-coverts black.
Sexes alike.
x c. |
In overhead flight paler underside of tail with contrasting black abdomen
and vent, dark-barred underparts and white breast band are leading
pointers.
Young (immature). Unrecorded.
status, distribution and habitat. Resident. Uncommon. Kerala
(including Wyriaad, Nilgiri Hills) ; possibly also Coorg and western Mysore
(Malnad) though as yet unrecorded thence. Eastern Nepal, Sikkim, northern
West Bengal, East Pakistan, to eastern Assam north of Brahmaputra river;
tcrai and up to c. 1200 m. elevation (but see under 128 — A . L syarna).
A specimen (ssp?) collected in Bastar dist., eastern Madhya Pradesh, in
April (JBNHS 62: 556). Rare NE. monsoon (winter) visitor to Ceylon in
the low country (all zones), apparently the E. Himalayan form. Status of
the two races insufficiently understood owing to paucity of relevant skins
for study (see H. G. Deignan 1948, Auk , 65: 85). Frequents evergreen forest
in the neighbourhood of clearings and wide streams, chiefly in foothills
country.
Has the same curious widely discontinuous Indo-Malayan distribution
as Aviceda jerdoni. More material from Kerala may show that as in that
species the resident southern population is discrete.
HAWKS, VULTURES, ETC,
general habits. Met with singly or in small (family ?) parties; large
gatherings of up to 20 birds or so have been recorded. Somewhat crepuscular;
more active in cloudy overcast weather and at dusk than during the glare
of mid-day. Perches upright high up in the canopy of a lofty forest tree,
unnoticed till it makes its aerial sorties after flying insects, returning to a
nearby perch after each capture. Insects always seized in the feet
(cf. No. 126); sometimes in the air, sometimes picked off a leaf, the bird
fluttering or hovering momentarily to do so. When disturbed the birds
promptly commence to soar in circles above the tree-tops, sometimes ascend-
ing to considerable heights. Normal flapping flight reminiscent of a crow’s,
and interrupted by short spurts of sailing.
voice and calls. A soft, quavering plaintive squeal or whistle, recalling
the Pariah Kite’s; also described as a shrill gull-like mewing.
food. Chiefly lizards, frogs, large grasshoppers, mantises, and other
insects. Bats and small birds only occasionally. Wc have observed an indi-
vidual at dusk and dawn day after day flying into and criss-crossing through
swarms of yellow wagtails arriving at and leaving their roosts in sugarcane
fields in Kerala, making timid unsuccessful dashes at birds within easy
reach, but only rarely securing one.
breeding. Season , in NE. India April to June; in Kerala between
February and July, mainly March /April. Nest, a well-made platform
of thin sticks with the central depression c . 20 cm. across and 5 to 10 cm.
deep. Generally well lined with grass and fibre, overlaid with a bed of green
leaves which are renewed from time to time. Eggs , 2 or 3, like those of
Accipiter badius , broad, fine-textured and smooth ovals, greyish white,
220
FALGONIFORMES
rarely with special and blotches of reddish at the broad end, Average size
of 24 eggs 37-4 X 31-1 mm. (Baker).
Both sexes participate in nest-building and incubation. Incubation period
and share in feeding young unrecorded,
Museum Diagnosis. Distinguished from the Burmese race (A, l . syama) by the
band across breast, being largely intermixed with rufous and chestnut v. almost
wholly black.
MEASUREMENTS
Wing
Bill
Tarsus
Tail
<5*9
227-243
(from feathers)
20-22
26 27
130-145 mm.
colours of bare parts. Iris purple- brown or crimson-brown. Bill deep slaty-
or horny-plumbeous; upper mandible tipped black, lower whitish, cere plumbeous-
blue, Legs and feet dull plumbeous to plumbeous-blue; claws horny brown (Baker).
miscellaneous. When freshly killed, the bird ‘ has a most peculiar and
disagreeable odour; what might be termed a regular frog-like or bug-like
smell; nor does this wear off till the skin has been exposed to air for some
considerable time * (W. Davison, SF G: 24~5).
128. Burmese Blackcrested Baza or Lizard Hawk. Aviceda leupkotes
syama (Hodgson)
Baza Syama Hodgson, 1836, Jour. Asiat. Soc. Bengal 5: 777
(Lower region of Nepal)
Baker FBI No. 1023, Vol. 5: 173
local names. Daokwa , Daoling (Gachar).
size. Same as No. 127, Pigeon length c. 33 cm. (13 in.).
field characters. A handsome, prominently crested black and white
hawk with barred underparts and black belly. Differs from 127 in having
the upper plumage blacker with less chestnut markings, and the breast
band below the white gorget almost wholly black (without chestnut
admixture).
Young (immature). Like adult but with more chestnut and white in
upper plumage.
status, distribution and habitat. Uncertain and rather confused.
According to H. G. Deignan (Auk, 1948, 65: 85), the latest reviewer of this
species, syama is the breeding form of N. Burma, Assam, and the lower
slopes of the E. Himalayas west to Nepal. He considers the breeding
bird of Kerala, S. Burma, and N. & E. Thailand to he the nominate leupkotes.
As Deignan points out, however, it is by no means certain that the Kcrala-
breeding race is in fact inseparable from that of N. Thailand* as at present
assumed. More material from Kerala is needed to settle the point He
suggests that the birds found in Ceylon in winter may be migrants of the
east Himalayan population (syama).
Like 127, inhabits evergreen forest biotope; broken plains and foothills
country up to c . 1000 m. elevation.
general habits, food, voice, etc. No differences from 127 recorded.
HAWKS, VULTURES, ETC. 221
Museum Diagnosis. Distinguished from nominate leupkotcs by the band across
the breast being nearly all black v. largely intermixed with rufous and chestnut.
MEASUREMENTS
<?9
Wing Bill Tarsus
(from feathers)
221-246 20-23 25-30
colours of bare farts. As in the nominate race*
Tail
130-149 mm.
(Baker)
Genus Pern is Cuvier
Pernis Cuvier, 1817(1816), Rfcgne Animal., 1 : 322. Type, by monotypy, Falco apiuorus
Linnaeus
Cf. Strescmann, E., 1940, Archiv. f. Naturg.: 137-93
Distinguished from all other accipi trine genera by having the lores, sides of head,
forehead, and chin, covered with small scale-like feathers, with no bristles or pro-
longed shafts* Bill weak, rather long, not much hooked; festoon small or absent.
Cere nearly as long as rest of bill. Nostrils long, narrow, oblique; upper margin
membranous. Wings long; 3rd and 4th primaries (as.) subcqual and longest,
5th a little shorter. Tail moderately long; slightly rounded. Tarsus stout, short,
and feathered on the upper half in front, the naked parts covered with hexagonal
scales; toes long, covered above with bony transverse shields, all divided except
the last two or three; claws long and slightly curved, the middle one dilated on
the inner side.
The genus is found in Europe and Africa to Central Asia, extending to the Malay
Archipelago and China.
Pernis ptilorhynchus (Temminck)
Key to the Subspecies
Black subterminal and median bands on tail nearly as wide as paler
bands P. p. ruficollis
Black subterminal and median bands on tail much narrower than paler
bands P. p . orientalis
129. Siberian Honey Buzzard. Pernis ptilorhynchus orientalis Taczanowski
Pernis apivorus orientalis Taczanowski, 1891, Fauna, Orn. Sib.-Oricnt. pt. 1 ; 50
(in M6m. Acad. Imp. Sci. St. P^tersb. (7), 39) (Eastern Siberia)
Baker, FBI No. 1820, Vol. 5: 168
LOCAL names. As in 1 30.
size. Pariah Kite ±; length c . 68 cm. (27 in.).
field characters. Doubtfully distinguishable in the field from Crested
Honey Buzzard (No. 130) by its different tail pattern in which the black
subterminal and median bands are narrower than the paler (mottled grey)
bands that separate them. This character is more noticeable in overhead
soaring flight, but is variable and not always a reliable guide. Sexes alike;
female larger
222
FALCONIFORMES
status, distribution and habitat. Uncommon winter visitor to N. India.
Possibly more frequent than supposed also elsewhere in the subcontinent
but not differentiated from 130, q.v.; one specimen from as far south as
Ceylon (Mannar — Phillips).
Adult, pale form Young
Honey Buzzard, overhead view
(Diagrammatic sketches by L. Tinbergen)
Extralimital. Breeds in S. Siberia from SW. Altai to the Amur region
and the mountains of Hondo (Japan) ; probably also in Manchuria and N.
China. In winter south to Burma, and S. China (Peters).
* Japan and northeastern Asia where it is highly migratory * (Vauric
& Amadon, Am. Mus. Novit., No. 2111, Oct, 29, 1962).
general habits, etc. Nothing specifically recorded. See 130.
Museum Diagnosis
MEASUREMENTS
Wing
Bill
Tarsus
Tail
432-483
(from feathers)
33-37
47-50
242-267 m
(few 4604 )
(Baker')
COLOURS OF BARE PARTS. As in 130.
130. Crested Honey Buzzard. Pernis ptilorhynchus ruficollis Lesson
Pernis ruficollis Lesson, 1830, Traits d’Orn., livr. 1: 77
(* patrie inconnue * — Bengal)
Baker, FBI No. 1819, Vol. 5: 167
Plate 10, fig. 6, facing p. 192
local names . Shahutela , Mddkare (Hindi) ; Madhava (Nepal) ; Term geddu (Telugu) ;
Ten parandu (Tamil) ; Jen alawa (Kannada) ; Iutalu (Yerkali) ; Mahuwari (Mhari) ;
Katta paranlha , Ten kotichi (Malayalam); Rajaliya (Sinhala),
size. Same as 129; Pariah Kite ± ; length c. 68 cm. (27 in.).
field characters. Extremely variable in coloration. One of the com-
monest phases greyish brown above with darker grey head; pale brown
below narrowly cross-barred with white. A short blackish nuchal crest seen
in profile when slightly raised. Underside of wings silvery grey with close
dark barring; rounded greyish tail with broad blackish subterminal and
median cross-bands separated by about equally broad pale ones; but tail
pattern also variable. Sexes alike.
HAWKS, VULTURES, ETC. 223
Slenderer head and longer neck readily distinguish it from Short-toed
Eagle which it resembles in overhead flight.
status, distribution and habitat. Resident, with considerable local
movements depending on food supply. West Pakistan, and all India from
c . 1800 metres in the Himalayas south to Kanyakumari and Ceylon (partly
winter visitor), east to Assam and E. Pakistan. Inhabits deciduous and semi-
evergreen well-wooded country, hill and plain, affecting forest glades,
groves of trees about towns, villages and cultivation, even in semi-desert
areas, e.g. Bahawalpur, Rajasthan, N. Gujarat.
x c. i
Extralimital. East to Tonkin and Laos. Probably also SW. Yunnan
(Peters). ‘ Somewhat migratory * (Vaurie & Arnadon, Am. Mus. Novit.,
No. 2111— Oct. 29, 1962).
GENERAL habits. Usually seen singly or in pairs soaring aloft and
circling on motionless wing's, or perched on a tree-top; in urban and
suburban localities invariably mobbed and chivvied by House and Jungle
Crows, often abetted by parakeets and other birds. Normal flight with
steady wing-beats punctuated with occasional spurts of sailing. Numbers
gather to roost at night in groves oflarge leafy trees, e.g. Dalbergia.
food . Chiefly honey and larvae of bees — even of the ferocious Rock
Bee (Apis dorsala) — either from combs within natural tree hollows or those
festooning the branches. Bits of the comb are broken off regardless of the
onslaughts of the infuriated insects (exact method in case of exposed combs
not recorded). If the chunk is too large and drops down, the bird descends
to deal with it on the ground, digging into the cells with its bill; if of mana-
geable size it is carried off to a perch on a bough, held under foot and tom
with the bill, the honey and larvae being gulped down. The dense covering
of scale-like feathers on the face afford adequate protection against the stings,
but how the eye escapes is not clear. Stomach and crop contents of speci-
mens also show considerable quantities of wax. Whether, as in Honeyguides,
this is deliberately swallowed, and digested, is not known. Large insects,
reptiles, mice and young birds are also taken. One reported devouring an
oriole (Donald). Alleged to rob village chickens at times.
voice and calls. A single high-pitched screaming whistle wheeeew
uttered from a perch with crest slightly raised ; also on the wing. Sometimes
calls during the night ( ?).
breeding. Season, April, May, and early June over most of northern
and peninsular India; in south India apparently more birds lay in February
than later. No nest actually discovered in Ceylon though copulation once
224 FALCONIFORMES
observed in January, and young ex nest being fed in May (Phillips 1953).
Nest, a compact platform of sticks c. 40-45 cm. in diameter and 20 cm, deep,
the inner cup lined with a thick layer of dry leaves; rarely green ones.
Placed in large mango, banyan, and suchlike leafy trees, or in a casuarina,
or even date or coconut palms, from 6 to 20 metres up. Eggs, normally
2, smooth-surfaced broad ovals, almost equal at both ends. Handsome
but extremely variable in ground colour and markings: pale cream, pale
reddish- or yellowish buff, freckled, mottled, or blotched in varying degree
with reddish brown or chestnut-brown. Some eggs closely resemble those of
Kestrel or Sparrow-Hawk; some are mistakable for those of the Kite, but
Baker points out that the inner membrane is always yellow, never green as
in the latter. Average size of 80 eggs 52*8 x 42*8 mm. (Baker). Both sexes
share in nest-building, incubation, and feeding the young. Incubation
period about 32 days. Chick when c. 15 days old, covered with white powder-
puff down all over except head and neck, where it is buffy-cream colour.
Museum Diagnosis. According to Stresemann 1 the race ruficollu has ‘ tail-wing *
index (length of tail multiplied by 100 and divided by length of wing) usually under
65. 4 Wing-tip ' (distance from tip of longest secondary to tip of longest primary)
usually under 110 mm.; wing length 392-460 mm.
measurements (of Indian birds)
Wing
Bill
(from skull)
Tarsus
Tail
d’d’ 1
382-417
36-42
48-57
245-262 mm*
9 9
398-445
38-42
50-60
250-276 mm.
(SA)
colours of bare parts. Iris golden yellow to orange-red, sometimes with a
very fine golden ring round pupil; browner in young birds. Bill slaty black; lower
mandible paler (whitish) with black tip; cere blackish plumbeous. Legs and feet
yellow; claws black. In 15-day old downy chick: Iris brown. Bill black; cere greyish.
Legs and feet pinkish flesh-colour.
miscellaneous. Nematode worms ( Pelecitus sp.) recorded from under skin
of toes, especially at base of claws (Salim Ali 1943, JBNHS 44: 23).
Genus Milvus Lac6p&de
Milvus Laccp&de, 1799, Tabl. Ois.: 4. Type, by tautonymy, Falco milvus Linnaeus
Hawks distinguished by their long, forked tails. Bill comparatively weak; oilmen
slightly curved at base, sharply rounded but distinct; cere well developed, with
oval, oblique nostril at its anterior edge. Wing long and pointed, reaching almost
to tip of tail; 3rd and 4th primaries (as.) longest. Tarsus short, feathered for about
half its length, the naked lower portion with broad shields in front, reticulated
1 Stresemann, E. (1940) : Review Of the genus Pernis , Archiv Jiir Naturgcsckichu* pp. 137-93.
PLATE 12
1 Pmlm K Miactus, Osprey (203)- 2 Accipitcr t, indicus, Crested Goshawk (144). 3 Falco
p, pertgrinaior, Shahin Falcon (211). 4 MicroHerax caerulescens (bunrmnicus), Redbreasted
Falconet (204 RE). 5 Falco L interstmtus, Kestrel (223). 6 Spilomis c, burmankus, Crested
Serpent Eagle (199); 7 LophoSmrchis k, kiemrii, Rufousbellied Hawk-Eagle (10). v
hawks; vHltOres, etc. 22s
behind and at ludes* To& short, scufteliate above; lateral toes uneven; claws mode*
ratdy curved; middle daw dilated on the inside* v
Represented throughout the Old World; within our limits by two species, one of
which is of uncertain status*
Key to the Specie®
Depth of fork in tail (Lc. distance outer tail-feather projects beyond
Central tail-feather) greater than length of tarsus M. milvus
Depth of fork lesser than length of tarsus M. migrant
131. European or Red Kite* Milvus milvus milvus (Linnaeus)
Fako milvus Linnaeus, 1758, Syst. Nat., ed. 10, 1: 89 (South Sweden)
Not in Baker, FBI
Plate 10, Eg. 4, facing p. 192
local names. As for Pariah Kite.
size. Pariah Kite; length c . 61 cm, (24 in.).
field characters. Differs from the familiar Pariah Kite in being
rusty brown overall, with paler (whitish) head, dark-streaked rust-red
underparts, and bright rufous deeply forked tail. In overhead Bight the
reddish general coloration, pale head, black primaries (* splayed fingers '),
with a prominent pale whitish patch at their bases, pale abdomen and vent,
and red tail are diagnostic. Sexes alike, more or less also in size.
Milvus milvus
n
226
FALCONIFORMES
23°N., 70°E., March 1945 (SAlim Ali 1954, JBNHS 52: 393); Jasdan,
Gujarat, March 1964 (Shivrajkumar, ibid. 61(2): 446); Ghilka lake and
Puri, Orissa, January 1963, 1964 (Jayakar & Spurway, ibid. 62: 301).
Extrdimital. Breeds in England (locally), Scandinavia north to lat.
61°N.; east to Russia, south to NW. Africa, Asia Minor and Palestine;
Canary Is. Migratory in the northern part of its range but not crossing the
Sahara (Peters),
general habits etc. In Kutch a loose gathering of over 50 birds had
assembled for scraps around a shooting camp in lightly wooded semi-desert
country surrounded by barren salt desert.
voice and galls. A squealing whistle similar to the Pariah Kite’s but
shriller.
Museum Diagnosis. For details of plumages see Witherby 1939, 3: 86-7.
MEASUREMENTS
Wing
Bill
(from cere)
Tarsus
Tail
central * outer
c?c?
480-500
27-30
58-64
220-250 300-345 mm.
Depth of fork 60-1 10 mm.
9 9
480-515
—
—
220-260 310-365 mm.
colours of bare parts. Iris amber-yellow ; skin round eye yellow. Bill black
at tip, yellow at base and cere. Legs and feet yellow (Witherby).
Milvus miorans (Boddaert)
Key to the Subspecies
A Head in adults whitish with black streaks M. m. migrant
B Head in adults fulvous with black streaks 1
1 Smaller; wing c? 420-475 mm., 9 432-499; white underwing patch
inconspicuous M. m. govinda
Larger; wing c? 475-529 mm., 9 480-552; white underwing patch
conspicuous M. m. lineatus
132. Black Kite. Milvus migrans migrans (Boddaert)
Falco migrans Boddaert, 1783, Table Pl. enlum. : 28
(restricted type locality France, apud Hartert, ex Dauhmton, pi. 472)
Baker, FBI No. 1786, Vol. 5: 121
local names. Same as for Pariah Kite.
size. Pariah Kite; length c , 61 cm. (24 in.).
field characters. Differs from the Pariah Kite (No. 133) in having the
head and neck in adults whitish (v. fulvous-brown) with black shaft streaks.
Upperparts paler brown; underparts more rufous. Sexes alike.
status, distribution and habitat. Resident (breeding) in W. Pakistan
(Quetta, NE. Baluchistan) ; in winter probably spreading to Sind, Kutch X?) •
Extralimital . Breeds from Spain, S. France, Germany, and Fihft^tid
south to NW, Africa, SE. Europe, Asia Minor, Kirghiz steppes, and NE*
Baluchistan. Winters in N. Africa (Peters).
Page
226
227
229
227
HAWKS, VULTURES, ETC.
general habits etc. Same as of Pariah Kile q.v.
Museum Diagnosis.
For details of plumages
see Witherby
1939, 3: 96.
MEASUREMENTS
Wing
Bill
Tarsus
Tail
(from cere)
central
outer
417-452
24-27
53-60
200-235
230-260 mm.
Depth of fork 20-40 mm.
9 9
430-465
—
—
—
—
(Witherby)
colours of barb parts. As in Pariah Kite.
133. Pariah Kite. Milvus migrant govinda Sykes
Milvus Govinda Sykes, 1832, Proc. zool. Soc. Lond.: 81 (Dukhun)
Baker, FBI No. 1787, Vol. 5; 122
Plate 11, fig. 5, facing p. 206
local names. Ckeel (Hindi and Bengali) ; Kurit (Santhali) ; II (Chamba) ; Malta
gdddd (Telugu); Paria parandu, Kalu parandu (Tamil) y Genda (Mhari); Rajaliya
(Sinhala); Chilana , Mugacharani (Assam); Chakki parandu (MalayaJam); Ghdr
(Marathi); Sir i tin (Sind).
field characters. A large dark fulvous-brown hawk distinguishable
from all similar birds of prey by its deeply forked tail, particularly conspi-
cuous in flight. Sexes alike.
Young (immature). Overall pale brown, speckled and streaked with
fulvous. Head brown, streaked with pale fulvous; a white patch under eye.
Upper plumage brown, darker than
adult, the feathers tipped or edged
paler. Underparts brown with broad
whitish or fulvous streaks. In older
young these streaks narrower with
black shafts. Tail more strongly
barred or rayed.
STATUS, DISTRIBUTION and HABITAT.
Resident. Common throughout both
Pakistans, all India (plains and to r.
2200 metres altitude in the Hima-
layan and peninsular hills), Nepal, Ceylon (low country Dry Zone),
Andaman Is. Affects urban localities and human habitations on the
countryside, including outlying nomadic herdsmen’s encampments.
Extralimital . Burma; Malaysia (occasional).
local migration From heavy-rainfall localities to drier areas observed
before commencement of monsoon, but precise data lacking.
General habits. Gregarious about towns and villages. A confirmed
commensal of man, and useful and efficient scavenger, haunting the precincts
of slaughter-houses, fish markets, refuse dumps, harbours, and bazaars.
Is an expert stunt flier possessing astonishing dash and manoeuvrability
on the wing. Will swoop and carry off a dead rat or other titbit lying in
X e. I
228 FALCONIFORMES
the middle of a congested thoroughfare, turning and twisting with masterly
adroitness to avoid the tangle of overhead electric wires and the bustling
traffic below. Or one will bide his time and suddenly swoop down from
nowhere before the picnicker’s sandwich has reached his mouth, whisk it
neatly out of his hand and decamp as suddenly as it came I Prefers garbage
and offal to sharing large animal carcases with vultures. Less given to soaring
on thermals and circling aloft than vultures, but large rabbles or ‘ armadas ’
commonly seen high up, drifting with the wind on motionless wings at
sunset. From time to time one individual will suddenly tumble sideways
and dive at another, the attacked one turning over on his back, legs and claws
outstretched to parry the onslaught, then as soon right himself to resume the
sailing, both birds obviously enjoying the game. Has communal roosts in
selected trees or groves at which large numbers — sometimes several scores
— will flock at dusk and indulge in much wrangling, wing-flapping, and
wheeling in the air before settling down for the night.
food. Largely omnivorous. Chiefly offal and garbage 'in urbanized
areas. When feeding nest-young, individuals sometimes become a serious
menace to young chickens and ducklings in poultry runs. At this time also
given to carrying off golf balls frc-m links. Saunters about to pick up earth-
worms on watered lawns. Winged termites awkwardly hawked in the air,
the insects seized in the talons and head bent down to transfer them to bill.
Observed capturing Rouscttus leschenanlti bats swarming out of a cave on
disturbance during daytime; held in talons and tom up with bill in sailing
flight. Among stomach contents the following insects have been identified :
Gryllotalpa africana, Chrotogonus sp., Biachytrypes ackatinus , in addition to
remains of mice, lizards, frogs, chickens, and kitchen refuse (Mason &
Lefroy 1912).
voice and calls. Normal call, more heard at commencement of breeding
season, a shrill, almost musical whistle ewe-wir-r-r-r-r uttered singly or in
quick succession 4 to 7 times from perch as well as on wing. In defence of
nest an agitated ‘war cry’ version of same, ewe-wiwirr , while frantically
diving at intruder. During copulation a series of six to ten excited squeals
(uttered by female ?) rising in crescendo and ending abruptly on completion
of act.
breeding. Season prolonged, varying with latitude and locality; in
the Himalayas March to May; in the Peninsula mainly between September
and April; in Ceylon December to May. Nest , an untidy platform of sticks,
iron wire, rags, tow, and rubbish of every description. Placed 7 to 14 metres
up in a forking trunk, or crotch of branches of large trees — neern (Melia),
banyan or peepul (Ficus), tamarind ( Tamarindus ), shisham ( Dalbergia ),
mango ( Mangifera ) or other, commonly near human habitations. Often
in the head of a palm ( Cocos or Borassus ) , Eggs, 2 or 3 t rarely 4, broad
ovals almost equal at both ends. Very variable in coloration and markings;
usually greyish-, greenish-, or pinkish white, with blotches, smears, or
freckles of blackish brown, reddish brown, purplish, or blood red* Average
size of 200 eggs 52* 7 x 42-7 mm, (Baker). Both sexes participate in nest-
building, incubation and nest-feeding. Incubation period unrecorded*, To
copulate, the male alights directly from the air on the female’s back in
response to her peculiar squealing invitation, flapping his wings to steady
229
HAWKS, VULTURES, ETC*
himself* The length of the pre-incubation copulatory period {in one case
13 September to 21 January and then decrcasingly on till 24 February),
and the daily frequency of copulation (five to seven times in the early
stages) is astonishing* (For details see SAlim Ali 1926, JBNHS 31 : 524r£.)
Museum Diagnosis
MEASUREMENTS
Wing
BUI
Tarsus
Tad
cFtf 420-475
(from feathers)
32-36
49-58
250-289 mm.
9 9 432-499
—
—
—
Six recent specimens give :
(Baker)
Wing
Bill
Tarsus
Tail
(from skull)
central
outer
3
426-452
35*5-38
51 (1)
213-224
246-284 mm.
Depth of fork 33-63 mm.
3 9 9
418-458
37-38*5
53 (1)
217-227
244-290 mm.
Depth of fork 27-42 mm.
(SA)
colours of bare parts. Iris brown. Bill black; cere, gape and extreme base of
lower mandible yellow or greenish yellow. Legs and feet pale yellow; in young birds
greenish yellow. Claws black.
1 34. Blackeared or Large Indian Kite. Milvus ( migrans ) 1 * * lineatus (Gray)
Haliaetus lineatus J. E. Gray, 1831, based on collections made by Hardwickc,
111. Ind. Zool., 1(8): 1, pi. 18 (China)
Baker, FBI No. 1788, Vol. 5: 124
local names. Same as for No. 133.
size. Pariah Kite, slightly + ; length c . 66 cm. (26 in.).
field characters. In overhead flight distinguishable from Pariah Kite
by larger size and a conspicuous white buzzard-like underwing patch (lower
wing-coverts) which is only dimly indicated in govinda. At rest, larger size
and somewhat paler underparts, without rufous tinge, are suggestive
pointers. Sexes alike.
status, distribution and habitat. Breeds in Ladakh and N. Kashmir,
and possibly throughout the Himalayas, between c. 1500 and 4500 m. alt.
Observed in Nepal at c . 5330 m. in May and collected at c. 4260 m. in July
(Biswas). Breeds also in the higher hill ranges of Assam south of the Brahma-
putra (vide Baker). Winter visitor in small numbers to W. Pakistan and
northern and peninsular India south at least to about lat. 18°N, in the
Deccan (Maharashtra, Andhra).
Extralimital. ‘Breeds in W. Siberia from about lat. 58°N. east to Trans-
baikalia and Japan, south to Transcaspia, Turkestan, and N. China.
Winters south to N. India, Burma, Indochina, and Hainan 9 (Peters).
Migration. No ringing data. Frank Ludlow (Ibis 1937: 493) witnessed
a spectacular migration in Bhutan on 5 September. A continuous stream of
1 Brackets as used by Strcsemann in revised edition of Vol. 1 of Peters’s Checklist ; For
explanation see Strcsemann, E. (1959): ‘Die GHedcrung der Schlangenadlen-Gattung
Spilornis ’ Vierteijakrsscknfl der Naturforschenden Gesellscka/t in %iirich t 104: 206- 13,
230 PALCONIFORMES
these kites was coming from the north down the Kuru Chu Gorge to Bhutan,
not in dense formation but a long-drawn line of 3 or 4 birds followed at
intervals of a hundred metres or so by 3 or 4 more, and so on. Several
hundreds of birds must have passed the observer thus during the half-hour
he was watching, and the stream was continuing when he left.
general habits etc. Not appreciably different from Pariah Kite*®,
but both in its residential area and winter quarters more of a mountain
bird, less commensal with man and less of a municipal scavenger.
breeding. Season , in Kashmir March/April ; in Ladakh and the
Himalayas April /May; in the Assam hills February to early April. In
Kashmir Whistler found some nests in mulberry and poplar trees at moderate
heights; Osmaston in huge chenars c . 20 to 30 metres up. Nest, of sticks
lined with wool, hair, rags, etc. — not different from Pariah Kite’s — per-
haps with less sophisticated rubbish admixed than in urban localities.
Eggs , 2 or 3, like the Pariah’s in coloration and with the same range of
variations; slightly larger. Average size of 100 eggs 57-3 'X 45-2 mm.
(Baker). Apparently both sexes share all the domestic chores, though as yet
male's share proven only in incubation. Incubation period unrecorded.
Museum Diagnosis
MEASUREMENTS
Wing
Bill
(from feathers)
Tarsus
Tail
d'd’
475-529
34-37
52-62
288-345 mm,
99
480-552
—
—
(Baker)
colours of bare parts. As in Pariah Kite. Legs and feet sometimes nearly
white.
Genus Haliastur Selby
Haliastur Selby, 1840, Cat. Gen. Subgen. Types Aves: 2 (note), 3. Type, by original
designation, Haliastur pondicerianus = Falco indus Boddaert
Bill fairly large, compressed, slightly curved near base, sharply so at tip; festoon
on cutting edge of upper mandible small but distinct. Nostrils almost round and
oblique. Wings very long, extending to or beyond tip of tail; 4th primary (as.)
longest; first about equal to two-thirds length of 4th. Tail moderately long, slightly
rounded. Tarsi short and feathered above; the naked portion with broad transverse
scutes in front and on toes, elsewhere with hexagonal scales, small at sides large
behind, where in young birds they form broad scutes; soles furnished with tiny
prickly scales; outer toe longer than inner; claws curved, moderately strong.
The genus contains two species found throughout the Oriental and Australian
regions, one of which occurs within Indian limits.
135. Braluniny Kite, Haliastur indus indus (Boddaert)
Falco Indus Boddaert, 1783, Table PL enlum. ; 25
(Pondicherry ex Daubenton, pi. 416 and Buffon 1:490)
Baker, FBI No. 1784, Vol. 5: 1 18
Plate ll| fig* 6» facing p, 208
LOCAL names. Brahmini ckeel, Sankar cheel , Dhobia cheel , Roc m&bdr&k (Hindi);
Shankha cheel (Bengal) ; Kehe (Santhali) ; Khemankari (Sanskrit); Gdruda (Kannada);
HAWKS, VULTURES, ETC. 231
Gdruda lawa, Gdruda mantaru (Telugu) ; Sem pantndu (Tamil); Shmbmd (Yerkali) ;
Rariga cheelani (Assam); Garudan , Krishna pantndu (Malayalam); Ptfyo, Rutta okdb
(Sind) ; Ukussa (Sinhala).
size. Pariah Kite — ; length c. 48 cm. (19 in.).
field characters. A handsome rusty red or deep chestnut hawk with
white head, neck, upper back, and breast, and brown abdomen. Under
aspect of wings in overhead flight greyish with a cinnamon tinge; black
at tips (primaries). Sexes alike.
Young (immature). Brown, rather like Pariah Kite but always distin-
guishable by rounded (not forked) tail. Sometimes with whitish patches on
underwing, confusingly like buzzard (. Buteo ).
status, distribution and habitat. Resident — with some local seasonal
movements governed by monsoon and water conditions — throughout
India (up to c. 1800 m. in the Himalayas), both Pakistans (except Balu-
chistan and NWF. Province), Nepal (terai to c . 1400 m. alt.), Ceylon (low
country Dry and Wet zones), Andaman Is. Affects well-watered localities
inland, and sea coast.
ExtralimitaL Burma east to S. China, south to Tenasserim, N. Thailand,
central Vietnam.
general habits. A water-loving hawk, haunting the vicinity of tidal
creeks, fishing villages, docks, and harbours on the seaboard, and dammed
reservoirs, rivers, j heels, inundated rice-fields, and flooded areas inland.
Occasional pairs become parasitic on man like the Pariah Kite, scavenging
about towns and villages far from any large body of water. Of compara-
tively timid disposition and largely subjected to piracy by kites and crows
in seaports. Swoops to pick up in its talons floating jetsam or small fish off
the surface, often commencing to demolish them in flight. Has been
frequently observed to flop down on the water in the attempt, riding
buoyantly even on a choppy sea, and taking off again without effort.
food. Fish (chiefly dead or near the surface, or stranded high and dry
by receding flood) including mud-skippers (Periophthalmus) ; frogs, land
and strand crabs (Paratelphusa spp., Ocypoda macrocera ), lizards, small snakes,
garbage thrown overboard from ships in harbour, winged termites hawked
in the air, orthopterous insects fleeing from fired grassland, young chicks
of poultry, sickly birds (once Alcedo atthis) ; rarely also carrion in company
with vultures. Among stomach contents the following insects have been
identified; Schizodactylus monstrosus , Gryllotalpa qfricana , Liogryllus bimoculatus ,
Brachylrypes achatinus, Atractomorpha crenulata, Chrotogonus spp., in addition to
remains of small birds, mice, frogs and lizards (Mason & Lefroy 1912).
One caught a living garfish from surface of water with the action of a sea
eagle; another seen attacking a hare (W. F. Sinclair).
voice and calls. A harsh wheezy squeal. When swooping to drive off
intruding crow etc. from proximity of nest, a louder, agitated and bellicose
version of the same.
breeding. Season, over the subcontinent as a whole during the cold
weather, between December and March/April, varying locally; in Ceylon
December to May. Nest, a rough untidy structure r. 30-60 cm. across and
Up to c. 20 cm. deep, lined with miscellaneous rubbish — wool, rags, bits
of skin, tow, etc. — sometimes with green leaves. Placed c. 6 to 15 m. up in
232
FALCQNIFORMES
a large banyan or pecpul (Ficus), tamarind, neem, casuarina, or other tree,
or in the head of coconut palm, preferably near water, often within or
dose to a village; rarely on a ruined building. Eggs , normally 2, sometimes
3, rarely 4, greyish white, feebly speckled and blotched with pale dingy
reddish brown- — poorly marked replicas of Pariah Kite eggs; variable.
Average size of 100 eggs 50*7 X 40* 2 mm. (Baker).
Both sexes share in nest-building, incubation 1 , and feeding the young.
Incubation period about 26/27 days.
Museum Diagnosis. For details of plumage see Baker, loc. cit.
MEASUREMENTS
Wing
Bill
Tarsus
Tail
359-394
(from skull)
34-38
51-59
180-207 mm.
9 9
379-403
35-38
51-59
189-205 mm,
(SA)
colours of bare parts. Iris brown. Bill bluish horny, oilmen* and tip paler,
sometimes yellowish; cere yellow (bluish in young). Legs and feet dull yellow, greyish
yellow, or greenish yellow.
Genus Agcipiter Brisson
Accipiter Brisson, 1760, Orn., 1 : 28, 6:310. Type, by tautonymy, Accipiter Brisson *
Falco nisus Linnaeus
Astur Lac£p£de, 1799, Tabl. Ois.: 4. Type, by subsequent designation, Vigors,
1824, Falco palumbarius Linnaeus — F. gentilis Linnaeus
Bill short, powerful, curving sharply from cere and with a well-pronounced festoon.
Nostrils large, oval, horizontal, thinly covered with bristles. Wings short, rounded;
3rd, 4th, or 5th primary (as.) longest, or all three subequal. Tail long, extending
beyond wing tips, rather graduated. Tarsus long, thin, unfeathered; scutellated in
front and behind, reticulated on sides. Toes powerful; middle toe exceeding the
lateral ones in length, greatly so in some Species. Claws well curved, unequal; inner
claw very large, about equal to that on hind toe.
Genus cosmopolitan; represented by six species within our limits.
Key to the Species
Page
A Small but distinct nuchal crest A. trivirgatus 240
B No definite crest 1
1 Middle toe without claw considerably longer than outer toe with
claw a
Middle toe without claw about as long as outer toe with claw b
a Black mesial throat-stripe absent; wing 202-2 19mm., 9 233-260
mm A . nisus
Black mesial throat-stripe generally present; wing 145-174
mm., 9 182-210 mm A . uirgatus
b Third primary longest A. solocnsis
Fourth or fifth primary longest I
1 Male’s participation needs confirming. Leslie Brown (personal communication) says:
‘ Probably only the female incubates, which is fed on the nest by the male.'
243
246
239
HAWKS, VULTURES, ETC.
233
Pag*
I Larger; wing & 290-324 mm., 9 353-362 mm. > .... .A.g*ntilis 233
Smaller; wing 168-206 mm., 9 180-226 mm
A . badius 235
136. Eastern Goshawk. Accipiter gentilis schvedowi (Menzbier)
Astur palumbarius schvedowi Menzbier, 1882, Orn. Geogr. Eur. Russl.: 439
(Transbaikalia)
Baker, FBI No. 1801, Vol. 5: 146
Plate 10, fig. 1, facing p. 192
local names. Jana <J», Baaz 9 (Hindi); Zones c?> Shdhbdz 9 (Sind).
size. Pariah Kite ±; length c ? c. 50 cm. (20 in.), 9 c . 61 cm. (24 in.).
FIELD CHARACTERS.
Adult. Like a huge Shikra in shape and general aspect, with longish
tail and short rounded wings. Above , dark grey, darker on crown, nape,
sides of head and neck; edge of forehead and supcrcilium white. Below ,
white, cross-barred with black — narrowly on body, broadly on tail.
In overhead soaring flight the close-barred body and broad rounded
, wings, and longish fanned tail with 3 (or 4) black bands (subterminal
broadest) are suggestive pointers. Sexes alike; female larger.
Young (immature). Above , light brown, the feathers edged or tipped
buffy white; the markings broader on crown, nape, and hindneck. Tail
mottled brown with 4 or 5 broad blackish bands. Below , buff or pale rufous,
boldly streaked with blackish oval spots or drops ; not barred.
status, distribution and habitat. Breeds sparingly in the NW. Hima-
layas above c. 2400 m. altitude; possibly also in high Garhwal and eastward.
Chiefly a rare winter visitor to N. India and the lower Himalayas, from
Kashmir to Sikkim and Assam. Vagrant in W. Pakistan (Sind, Bahawalpur),
and Gujarat (Saurashtra). Affects Himalayan forests of oak ( Quercus ),
Spruce (Picea), silver fir (Abies), etc.
ExtralimitaL Central Asia from Barnaul and Krasnoyarsk to Yakutsk
and the Aldan river, south to the Tien Shan and Altai mountains and the
Amur river (Peters).
general habits. Like the Shikra and other ‘ true 5 hawks ( Accipiter )
and hawk-eagles, hunts from an ambush up in the branches of some thickly
foliaged tree, pouncing on its prey before it has realized the danger. If
unsuccessful will pursue the quarry for distances up to several hundred
metres before striking or abandoning the chase. If disturbed in its vigil,
drops down from the perch and flies low and fast with rapid wing-beats
close to the ground, shooting steeply up into the branches of another tree
some distance away. In the High Himalayas above the tree-line uses rocks
as look-out posts whence to pounce on snow partridges etc. coming out to
feed in open ground. Often seen late morning or early afternoon soaring
and circling at great heights, tail partly fanned, wings outspread and
motionless.
Highly prized by falconers, and was in great demand when falconry was
more popular in W. Pakistan and India. The more powerful feniale was
234
FALCON I FOH MBS
trained to strike hares, houbara bustards, ducks, herons, and other large
birds. (For methods of catching goshawks in the Punjab see Donald, G. H.,
1920, JBNHS 27: 133-4.)
food. Birds and small mammals, such as pheasants, partridges, pigeon
and hares.
voice and calls. Unrecorded in India. Elsewhere a short squeal or
scream like a buzzard's, a chattering giak, giak, giak , and others have been
described.
breeding. Possibly nests less rarely in the higher NW, Himalayas than
the paucity of records would indicate. According lo Baker the only authentic
one is Whympcr's of a nest containing two young birds in Garhwal in March,
though the altitude given as ‘ under 3000 ft. * (under c . 1000 metres) would
seem unusual. The only eggs known are two (hard-set) taken by Hume’s
Indian collector from a nest about 40 ft. up in a deodar tree in * Bussahir *
(Bashahr), c. 2700 m. altitude, on 15 April. The female parent was pro-
duced with the eggs to confirm identification. They were 'broad ovals,
greyish white, one mottled and spotted with faint brown stains (possibly
not natural). They measured * 2-2 X l-78and2*l X 1 *7 inches '(— 55-9
X 45-2 and 53-3 X 43-2 mm.) — Baker.
Share of the sexes in nesting activities, incubation period, etc. unrecorded.
Museum Diagnosis. No definite crest. 4th primary (as.) longest. [For detailed,
description of plumages etc. see Witherby 1939, 3:75-7 for the western (nominate)
race which differs only in being slightly larger and paler, with the upperparts
more brown less grey.] %
measurements Wing 290-323; 9 9 353-362 (Baker). An ad. c? from
Sikkim has wing 324 mm. (Meinertzhagen).
Bill (from feathers) 21-24; tarsus 70-78; tail 210-230 mm. (for A. g. gmtilis —
Witherby).
colours of bare parts. Iris, varying with age, lemon- or golden yellow to red
(in old birds). Bill dark plumbeous slate, paler at base and often yellow at gape;
cere yellow, greenish above. Legs and feet yellow; claws black.
Accipiter badius (Gmelin)
Key to the Subspecies
A Tail of adult with more than one dark subterminal band and of the
young with more than three cross-bands of dark hues 1
B Tail of adult with no bars except the subterminal band ; young with only
three bands 2
1 Underparts very richly barred with rufous A. b. poliopsis
Underparts less richly barred with rufous; rufous nuchal collar well
marked , .a
a Paler above A, b, cenchroides
Darker above I
I Generally smaller, more grey above. A . b. badius
Generally larger, more ashy above. A. b. dussurmeri
2 Breast rufous, wing under 190 mm , * . , . .A. b. butleri
Breast pale grey, wing over 190 mm. A, b. obsoUtus
Page
237
235
237
235
238
239
HAWKS, VULTURES, ETC. 235
137. Central Asian Shikra. Accipiter badius cenchroides (Severtzov)
Astur cenchroides Scvcrtzov, 1873, Bull. Imp. Soc. Friends Nat. Sci,, Anthr. and
Ethnogr. Moscow, 8 (2) : 113 (Auljeata and Chimkent, Russian Turkestan. Restricted
to the lower Syr-Darya by Heptner & Stachanov)
Baker, FBI No. 1804, Vol. 5: 150
local names. ShiJcra 9 , Chipka & (Hindi).
size. House Crow — ; length f. 31 cm. (12-13 in.), 9 c. 36 cm.
(14 in.).
field characters. Doubtfully recognizable from Indian Shikra (q.v.) ;
somewhat larger and paler.
Adult also more brown less grey above and with the barring on under-
parts paler and extending to thigh coverts and vent. Sexes alike; female
larger.
Young (immature). As in the Indian form (No. 138).
status, distribution and habitat. Resident in W. Pakistan (breeding
in Baluchistan, NWF. Province, upper Sind (?) ) extending, at least in
winter, to lower Sind, Bahawalpur, Punjab, but status here uncertain.
ExtredimitaL E. Iran, Afghanistan, Russian Turkestan. (‘ Syr-Darya
Valley, W. Tien Shan, Ferghana 5 — Peters.)
general habits, etc. Same as No. 138.
breeding. Recorded in NWF. Province and Baluchistan between
March and June. Nest and eggs as in Indian Shikra (q.v.). Average size of
30 eggs 40-4 X 31*3 mrn. (Baker).
Museum Diagnosis. In the species A. badius the second primary (as.) is longer
than sixth. For details of plumages and structure of A. b. cenchroides see Hartert
1912-21, Vog. pal. Fauna, 2: 1158-9.
MEASUREMENTS
Wing Bill
Tarsus
Tail
<?(?
(from cere)
185-197 12-13
45-46
c. 150-160 mm.
99
210-222 —
—
180-192 mm.
Middle toe without claw: & under 30 mm.; $ 31-35 mm. (Hartert).
COLOURS OF BARE parts. As in No. 138.
138. Indian Shikra. Accipiter badius dussumieri (Temminck)
Falco dussumieri Temminck, 1824, PI. Col. Livr. 52, text to pi. 308 (adult), pi. 336
(immature). (India, type from Bengal)
Baker, FBI No. 1803, Vol. 5: 149
LOCAL names. Shikra 9, Chipka or Gheepdk (Hindi and Marathi); Shikre
(Bengal); Kuthia Tunna 9 (Nepal); Tingkyi (Lepcha); U-cham (Sikkim).
size. House Crow — ; length d* c. 31, 9 r. 36 cm. (12-14 in.).
field characters. A small, short and rounded-winged hawk with a
longish multibanded (4 or 5) tail.
Adult. Above ashy blue-grey. Below , white closely barred with rusty
brown, especially on breast. A median grey stripe on throat, Sexes piore or
less alike; female larger and dark smoky brown washed with grey above.
236 FALCONIFORMES
Difficult to distinguish in the field from migratory Sparrow-Hawk (147)
(q.v.), but is somewhat paler in coloration, with stouter legs and shorter toes*
Young (immature). Above> dark brown; tail with more bars (5-7)*
BeloWy white with broad brown vertical streaks and spots.
status, distribution and habitat. Resident. Sind (?), West Pakistan,
Nepal (dun and Valley), all India excepting Kerala and Assam (where
replaced by other races, qq.v.), up to c. 1400 metres altitude in the Himalayas.
Affects open wooded biotope, hill and plain, and the environs of villages
and cultivation.
general habiTs. Uses the same surprise tactics in its hunting as the
Goshawk, pouncing on unsuspecting quarry from its ambush up in a leafy
tree. Sometimes stampedes small birds out of a thicket, selecting one from
the flock, chasing it with speed and determination till struck. Normal flight
swift, attained by rapid wing-strokes and punctuated with glides, the bird
sweeping steeply up to alight on a branch, its progress through the trees
often heralded by ‘Ware hawk! 5 alarm-calls of squirrels and' small birds.
Much given to soaring on thermals and circling high up in the heavens,
particularly during breeding season when also a pair will indulge in noisy
and spectacular aerobatics, spiralling upwards, tumbling, and stooping
at each other. At times during this season assumes a peculiar hovering flight:
wings slightly bent and held above level of back, and flapped very slowly
and deliberately. Possesses great pluck and dash; in heyday of falconry was
commonly trained to strike quails, partridges, and crows, and even such
large birds as young peafowl.
food. All living animals of manageable size recoideti: mammals (field
rats and mice, striped squirrels), birds (sparrow, myna, babbler, quail,
dove, black and racket-tailed drongo), lizards ( Calotes versicolor , Mabuya
carinata , Hemidactylus sp., Lygosoma sp.), frogs, locusts, grasshoppers, mantises,
dragonflies, flying termites, etc. The following insects specifically identified
among stomach contents: Chrotogonus sp., Gryllodes melanocephalus y Schizo-
dactylus monstrosus, Gryllotalpa africana , Brachytrypes achatinus , and geometrid
caterpillars (Mason & Lefroy 1912). Individuals often become confirmed
chicken-lifters and then a serious menace to poultry-keepers.
voice and calls. Normal calls a loud, harsh, and challenging, titu-titu
very like black drongo’s, and long-drawn screams rendered by G. M. Henry as
iheeya y iheeya> etc. During breeding season, in the aerial courtship display
as well as when perched, a noisy sharp double note ti-tui constantly repeated.
breeding. Season , overall March to June, varying locally in different
parts of the country; perhaps April and May most general. Nest> untidy
crow-like structure of twigs lined with grass and roots, c . 30 cm. across and
c. 10 cm. deep. Placed 7 to 15 metres up in a leafy mango, neem, tamarind,
or other tree, or at the base of leaf stalks in a palmyra (. Borassus ) palm.
Eggs , 3 or 4, rarely 5, pale bluish grey, sometimes finely stippled with
blackish at the larger end, and blotched with pale grey or lavender. Average
size of 100 eggs 38-8 x 31 • l mm. (Baker). Both sexes share nest-building
(twigs carried in feet) and feeding the young. Male's part in incubation
uncertain. Incubation period 18-21 days.
Museum Diagnosis. Smaller and purer grey on upperparts than A . b. cenchroides;
larger and more ashy above than A. b. badius , with the rufous baiting below; paler.
HAWKS, VULTURES, ETC. 237
But all races subject Ho great individual variation,* their gradual and complete
intergradation precludes fixing of definite racial
boundaries.
MEASUREMENTS
Wing
Bill
Tarsus
Tail
(from skull)
176-206
18-21
50-54
137*166 mm.
9 9
200-222
21-23
51-55
160-175 mm.
(SA)
colours of bare parts. Iris golden- or orange-yellow. Bill slaty blue, black
at tip, paler at base, yellowish on gape; cere bright yellow to deep orange. Legs and
feet yellow; claws black.
139. Ceylon Shikra. Accipiter badius badius (Gmelin)
Falco badius Gmelin, 1788, Syst. Nat., 1(1): 280 (Ceylon)
Baker, FBI No. 1802, Vol. 5: 147
local names. Kobeyi ukussa, Kurulla goya (Sinhala); Prappidian, Shikra (Mala-
yalam) ; Jali dega (Telugu); Valluru (Tamil).
size. House Qrow — ; length c . 30-34 cm. ( c . 12-13 in.).
field characters. Slightly smaller than Indian Shikra (q.v.), with
upperparts more grey, less ashy. Female and immature as in above.
STATUS, DISTRIBUTION and HABI-
TAT. Resident. Ceylon (common
in all zones up to c . 1800 m.);
Kerala (low country and up to at
least c. 1500 m. elevation). Affects
open deciduous biotope. Groves
near villages etc.
general habits etc. Same as
Indian Shikra.
breeding. Season, January to
April/May. Nest and Eggs as in the Indian form. Average size of 18 eggs
39*0 X 31*8 mm. (Baker).
Museum Diagnosis. Smaller and distinctly darker above than A. b. dussumieri ;
closer barred with darker rufous below, leaving only narrow white lines between
the bars. Kerala birds largely intermediate between Indian and Ceylonese races.
MEASUREMENTS
Wing
Bill
Tarsus
Tail
170-182
(from skull)
19-21 e. 50-54
128-134 mm.
9 9
186-206
22-23
—
145-161 mm.
(SA)
COLOURS OF BARB
FARTS.
As in the Indian form.
140. Burmese Shikra* Accipiter badius poliopsis (Hume)
Micronisus poliopsis Hume, 1874, Stray Feathers, 2: 325 (Northern Pegu)
Baker, FBI No. 1805, Vol. 5; 151
Plate ll f fig* S, facing p* 208
LOCAL NAME* Shikm sorai (Assam).
x c. 1
238 FALCONIFQRMBS
size# House Crow — ; length <? r. 31 cm#, 9 c . 36 cm# (12~14in.),
field characters. Like Indian Shikra (q.v.) but darker.
status, distribution and habitat. Resident. Assam (plains and hills
to c . 900 m, altitude).
Extralimital . Burma, Thailand, Malay Peninsula, east through the
Indochinese countries to Hainan and Formosa.
general habits etc. As in Indian Shikra.
breeding. Season, April-May. Nest and Eggs, as in the Indian form.
Average size of 28 eggs 39*0 x 31*8 mm. (Baker).
Museum Diagnosis. As dark as the Ceylon race above, with crown and sides of
head a purer grey. Underparts much more richly and broadly barred with rufous
than any other race. Female and immature differ from adult in same way as in
other races.
MEASUREMENTS
Wing Bill
(from feathers)
tfc? 186-203 19-21 mm.
9 9 221-226 20-22 mm.
(Baker) '
colours of bare parts. As in the Indian form.
141. Car Nicobar Shikra. Accipiter badius butleri (Gurney)
Astur butleri Gurney, 1898, Bull. Brit. Orn. CL, 7: 27 (Car Nicobar Island)
Baker, FBI No. 1806, Vol. 5: 151
local name. Kadiva (Car Nicobar).
size. House Crow — ; length 9 c. 30 cm. (12 in.).
FIELD CHARACTERS.
Male (adult). Like Indian Shikra (q.v.), but very small and much
more richly coloured, and with only a single subterminal black band in
tail.
Female and Young (immature). Much more rufous-chestnut and
richly coloured everywhere than other races. 1 Young birds on the wing
looking as red as, or redder than kestrels * (Butler, A. L., 1899, JBNHS
12 : 686 ).
status, distribution and habitat. Resident (endemic ?). So far known
only from Car Nicobar, Nicobar Islands. Camorta ( ?).
general habits etc. Nothing specifically recorded except that * young
birds have a trick of fluttering on a bough exactly like a broken-legged bird,
probably a trick practised when they are just out of the nest to first catch
the eye of the old bird bringing food * (Butler, loc. cit.).
breeding. Unknown. Butler found a nest (February ?) just completed
and apparently about to be laid in, c. 1 3 metres up at the end of a horizontal
Ficus branch.
Museum Diagnosis. Male bright grey above, brightest on crown and sides of
head and neck ; the latter without reddish Becking on Sides. Chin greyish cream
with median stripe obsolete. Inner webs of primaries unbarred; under wing-coverts
HAWKS, VULTURES, ETC, 239
pure white. 5th primary (as.) equal to or somewhat longer than 4tb (contra other
races). — Harteri.
MEASUREMENTS
Wing Bill Tarsus Tail
(from gape) *
2 <f & 168, 178 22, 22 45 (l) 140 (1) mm, (Butler)
9 180 — 43 152 mm, (Baker)
colours of barb parts. Iris bright orange. Bill pale bluish horny; tip dusky;
cere pale greenish. Feet yellow (Butler), Bill bright bluish (Harter t).
142. Katchal Shikra. Accipiter badius obsoletus (Richmond)
Astur obsoletus Richmond, 1902, Proc. U.S. Nat. Mus,, 25: 306 (Katchal Island)
Baker, FBI No. 1807, Vol. 5: 152
local names. Unrecorded.
size. House Crow — length c . 33-34 cm. (c. 13-14 in.).
field characters. Richly coloured above like A. b. butleri, also with a
single subterminal black band in tail. Somewhat larger.
status, distribution and habitat. Resident (endemic ?). So far known
only from Katchal Island, Nicobars.
GENERAL habits etc. Unrecorded.
breeding. Unrecorded.
Museum Diagnosis. Differs from A . b . butleri in being paler on nape and sides of
head; also in the indistinct white superciliary line, and white lores and throat.
Underparts resembling 4. b . butleri in pattern but the reddish colour on breast
almost entirely absent (Richmond).
measurements. Wing 192; culmen 21-5; tarsus 52; tail 157 mm. (Abbott).
colours of bare parts. Iris dark crimson; eyelids greenish. Bill blackish at
tip, horn-blue at base; cere greenish. Feet yellow (Abbott).
143. Hors field’s or Chinese Goshawk, Accipiter soloensis (Horsficld)
Falco Soloensis Horsfield, 1821, Trans. Linn. Soc. London, 13: 137 (Java)
Baker, FBI No. 1808, Vol. 5: 153
local names. Unrecorded.
size. House Crow — ; length c . 30 cm. ( c . 12 in.).
field characters.
Adult. Like the Shikra but slaty to ashy black above, with sides of
head and neck ashy grey ; throat buffy white streaked with grey. Scapulars
and tertiaries with broad white bars or patches. Below, breast and flanks
variably tinged with vinous or pale ferruginous, paling to white on abdomen
and vent.
In overhead flight reddish breast, barred tail, and buff lining to broad
rounded wings suggestive. Orange cere prominent.
240 FALCONIFORMRS
Y ottfcg (immature) . Resembles immature A . badi us but is darker above,
especially on head (brownish slate), with broadly streaked or spotted
underparts, and rufous-barred flanks.
status, distraction and habitat. Uncertain. ‘Common* (winter ?)
on Katchal I. and Ike Great and Little Nicobar Is, (Abbott & Boden
Kloss). Andaman Is.
Extralirhital. * Breeds from N. China and Korea south to Kwangtung
and Formosa (?). In winter to the Malay Peninsula and the East Indies
to Waigu * (Peters). Stragglers reaching E. Burma and N. Thailand,
general habits. Very little known. Apparently a shy forest-dweller.
Museum Diagnosis. 3rd primary (as.) longest; 4th almost subequal; both notched
on outer webs. 2nd
primary
about equal to 5th. Cere orange; bright yellow even
in museum skim.
measurements
Wing
Bill
Tarsus
Tail
<7*9
175-196
(from feathers)
17-19
r. 39-44
120-139 mm.
(once 147)
(Baker)
9 Wing 180-202 ; tail 1 28-145 ; middle toe without daw 24-27 mm. (Hartert) .
colours of bare parts. Iris dark brown, pale 'yellow, or straw colour; eyelids
yellow. Bill horny plumbeous, black at tip, yellowish at gape; cere orange or bright
yellow. Legs and feet orange-yellow.
Accipiter trivirgatus (Temminck)
Key to the Subspecies
A Large; wing & c. 229 mm., 9 c - 254-260 mm A . t. indicus
B Medium; wing r. 196-208 mm., 9 c . 214-237 mm. . . A. t. fteninsulae
C Small; wing c. 183-184 mm., 9 c . 198-206 mm A, t. layardi
Page
240
242
242
144. North Indian Crested Goshawk, Accipiter trivirgatus indicus
(Hodgson)
Astur indicus Hodgson, 1836, Bengal Sporting Mag., 8: 177 (Nepal)
Baker, FBI No. 1810, Vol. 5: 155 (** A t. rufitinctus)
Plate 12, fig. 2, facing p. 224
local names. Churiari , Jamal kanthi, Jurye (Nepal) ; Hagrani daoling (Cachar).
size. House Crow +; length c . 40-46 cm. (16-18 in.).
field characters. A medium-sized short-winged hawk. Above , dark
brown with forehead, crown, and small nuchal crest blackish grey. Tail
with four visible dark brown bars. Below, white, broadly streaked on breast
and barred on rest of underparts with rich rufous-brown. Throat and under
tail-coverts pure white, the former with a, conspicuous blackish mesial
stripe from chin to breast. Sexes more or less alike; female larger. On casual
observation could be mistaken for Aviceda jerdoni (No. 125, q.v.). Colo-
ration rather similar and both also crested.
Young (immature). Above , brown; head and nape feathers edged with
pale rufous; a broad fulvous supercilium. Below, bu% white or pale rufous
PL \TE i :i
1 JVinox s. hnsula. Biown Hawk-Owl (644). 2 Falco f). peregnnator, Shaheeu Falcon i2 1 1 ) . 3 Aviceda j.
ceylonensn , Leggc’s Baza (126). 4 (ilautidium r. malabaricum , Jungle Owlet (637). 5 Aviceda 1. leuphotes }
Indian Blackcrested Baza (127). 6 Falco a. rufipednides , Indian Hobby (214).
HAWKS* VULTURES, ETC- 241
with blackish mesial throat-stripe and broad streaks or drops on breast and
sides of body. Thighs variably barred brown and buff.
status, distribution and habitat. Resident* Northern India from
Garhwal through Nepal, Sikkim, and Bhutan ( ?) (terai to c* 2000 m. altitude
in the Himalayas) to E. and S. Assam, East Pakistan (?) (foothills and
up to c. 1500 m.) ; south to the Godavari river. Affects fairly open deciduous
and semi-evergreen forest.
Extralimital. ‘ . . . Yunnan and Formosa, south to Burma [Thailand,
Malay Peninsula] and Indochinese countries * (Peters).
general habits. A forest-dwelling hawk, otherwise of very similar
habits to the Shikra, q.v. Employs the same tactics of Surprise in its hunting,
pouncing on prey from a concealed perch up in a leafy tree overlooking a
clearing. Sedentary and parochial; often seen in the same patch of jungle
day after day. Also much given to circling high above forest in the charac-
teristic manner of the genus — a few rapid wing-beats to spiral gradually
upwards, followed by sailing and soaring.
food. Chiefly small mammals, and birds. Green pigeons, wood part-
ridges, and larger game birds such as junglefowl and pheasants recorded.
voice and calls. Described as * a shrill prolonged yelp 'a hoarse
chuckling note *, and loud screams and deep croaks as it swoops to attack
nest-robbeis.
breeding. Season, March through May. Nest, a massive structure of
sticks, c. 50 cm. across and up to some 30 cm. deep, lined wi'h leaves. Placed
c. 9 to 13 metres up in a densely foliaged tree standing in a rat inc or broken
foothills country. Eggs , 2 or 3, bluish white witli a fine, smooth texture,
usually without markings though often stained. Average size of 20 eggs
48-4 X 39*6 mm. (Baker). Share of the sexes in the domestic chores, and
incubation period, unrecorded. The birds arc bold and truculent in defence
of nest.
Museum Diagnosis. In the species A . irivirgatus 4th primary (as.) longest; 5th
subcqual. 6th primary longer than 2nd ( contra in A, badius). Adult male A, t. indicus
differs from nominate trivirgatus of Sumatra in larger size, darker upperparts with
blackish crown and short crest. Breast shield brownish rufous, rather extensive;
barring of abdomen narrow and rather rufous; thighs strongly barred; under wing-
coverts heavily marked. Adult female darker above and lighter below than peninsula e
(No, 145). Crown very blackish. Striping and barring of underparts reduced; no
pronounced breast shield developed because brown stripes on breast rather narrow;
bars on abdomen and flanks brownish and rather faded (Mayr, E,, 1949 Amer.
Mus, Novitates , No. 1415).
measurements (North Indian specimens)
Wing Tail
2 c?»<? (ad.) 229*5 188-195 mm.
3 9 9 (ad-) 245-260 200-213 mm.
I of* (imm.) 219 180 mm.
(Mayr)
colours op bare parts. Iris golden yellow (hrown in young) ; eyelids greenish
yellow. Bill horny brown or plumbeous homy; culrnen and tip blackish; gape
yellowish; cere greenish yellow. Legs and feet dull pale yellow to fairly bright dark
yellow; daws blackish homy (Baker).
16
242
FALCONIFORMES
145. South Indian Crested Goshawk. Accipiter trivirgatus peninsula*
Koelz
Accipiter trivirgatus peninsula* Koelz, 1949, Auk, 66:83
(Londa, Bpmbay district, peninsular India)
Baker, FBI No. 1809, Vol. 5: 154 ( ~ A. t. trivirgatus in part)
local names. Cor hesra , Martik be st a, Koieswar (Hindi); Kdkila dega (Telugu).
size. House Crow — ; length c. 31-36 cm. (c. 12-14 in.).
field characters. A medium-sized short-winged hawk.
Adult and Young like No. 144, slightly smaller, but not distin-
guishable from it in the field. Sexes more or less alike; female larger.
status, distribution and habitat. Resident. SW. India from about
Goa and N. Mysore (c. lat. 16°N.) south through Kerala. The species
has not been recorded east of the W. Ghats strip in this section. 1
Affects moist deciduous and evergreen forested foothills and broken
country and up to at least c. 1100 metres elevation in the Western Ghats
system and Nilgiri Hills.
qeneral habits etc. As in 144.
breeding. Season , nest , and eggs , as in 144, the last somewhat smaller.
Average size of 24 eggs (from SW. India including those from Ceylon)
46*7 x 37*1 mm. (Baker).
Museum Diagnosis. Very similar to 144, but slightly smaller. Markings on breast,
flanks, and upper abdomen in adult give the impression of a brown breast with
the feathers edged white, contra Ceylonese race q.v. For additional details see Mayr,
loc. cit.
measurements. (SW. Indian specimens)
Wing Bill Tail
(from skull)
6 (f(? (ad.) 196-208 26-28 159-168 mm.
6 9 9 (ad.) 214-237 r. 29-31 169- 180 mm.
(Whistler)
Wing 1 c? (imm.) 211; 2 9 9 (imra.) 228 230 mm. (Mayr)
Tarsus c. 51-57 mm. (Baker)
colours of bare parts. As in 144.
146. Ceylon Crested Goshawk. Accipiter trivirgatus layardi (Whistler
& Kinnear)
Astur trivirgatus tayardi Whistler & Kinnear, 1936, Jour. Bom. nat. Hist. Soc., 38: 434
(GilJymally, Peak Forest, Ceylon)
Baker, FBI No. 1809, Vol. 5: 154 ( = A. U trivirgatus part)
local names. Ukussa y Kurulla goya (Sinhala); Valluru (Tamil).
size. House Crow — ; Ceylon Shikra length e. 30-34 cm. ( c . 12-13
in.).
1 The distribution given by Mayr (loc. cit.), presumably based in part on FBI 5: 154,
as 4 Southern India approximately south of a line from Bombay to the mouth of the Krishna
river * i* not quite correct. In Nidification (4: 107) Baker attributes ‘ Khandesh ' to David-
son ; the latter does not mention this species at all in his Khandesh list (SF, vol. 10) !
243
HAWKS, VULTURES, ETC.
field characters. A medium-sized short-winged hawk.
Adults and Young like No. 144, but smaller even than 145. May be
distinguished from Ceylon Shikra, of about same size, by pointed crest
and boldly black-barred thigh coverts; in overhead flight by chequered
pattern on the wing quills. Sexes more or less alike; female larger.
status, distribution and habitat. Endemic in Ceylon. Resident,
subject to certain seasonal movements. Affects forested areas in all zones,
particularly in the hills and Wet Zone, to at least c. 1800 m. altitude.
GENERAL HABITS. As in 144.
food. Mainly lizards, small birds, etc.
voice and calls. A shrill scream he, he, hehehehe (Henry).
breeding. Season , February to July. Nest and eggs as in 145. Incubation
period about 34 days (Phillips).
Museum Diagnosis. Small size the chief diagnostic character. Very similar to
144 and 145, but smaller even than the latter. Markings on breast, flanks and upper
abdomen in adults much deeper more chocolate-brown, smaller and pear-shaped
giving the impression of a white breast spotted with dark brown, contra peninsular
Indian race, q.v. But
see also Mayr, loc. cit.
MEASUREMENTS
Wing
Bill
Tarsus
Tail
2 <?c f (ad.)
183-184
(from skull)
24-26
„
150-152 mm.
6 9 9 (ad.)
198-206
27-28
50-53 (2)
157-168 mm.
COLOURS OF tfARE
PARTS.
As in 144.
(Whistler)
Accipiter nisus (Linnaeus)
Key to the Subspecies
Much paler A. n, nisosimilis
Much darker A . n . melaschistos
147. Asiatic Sparrow-Hawk. Accipiter nisus nisosimilis (Tickell)
Falco Nisosimilis Tickell, 1833, Jour. Asiat. Soc. Bengal, 2: 571
(Marcha, Borabhum, India)
Baker, FBI No. 1811, Vol. 5: 156
local names. Bdsha 9 9 Bdshin (Hindi) ; Warnapa dega (Telugu) ; Prappidian
(Maiayalam); Tanki (Lepcha); Uchum (Sikkim).
size. House Crow — ; Shikra Length c. 31—36 cm. (12-14 in.).
Field characters. A medium-sized short-winged luiwk.
Male (adult). Very like Shikra; somewhat longer in body but doubtfully
distinguishable from it in the field by its darker, slatier upperparts (almost
blackish on head), more barred tail-feathers, and only on a close and un-
obstructed view by its longer, slenderer legs. A white supercilium. Throat
without black mesial line. Four or five blackish bands in tail.
Female (adult). Much larger than male, otherwise rather similar;
more brown, less pure grey above; paler below.
244 FALCON I FORMES
Young (immature). Above > dark brown, the feathers edged with rufous.
White bases to feathers of nape and neck conspicuous. Tail with five bars.
Below , breast with heart-shaped rufous-brown spots, turning to bars on
abdomen, flanks &nd thigh-coverts.
status, distribution and habitat. Rather sparse winter visitor
(September /October to March). All India from c. 2400 m. alt. in Kashmir
and along Himalayas, south to Kerala; both Pakistans, Nepal, Andaman Is.
Not Ceylon. Affects well wooded, preferably broken and foothills country
— light forest, groves, orchards, etc.
Extralimital. * Breeds in N. and C. Asia from Turkestan to the Sea of
Okhotsk, Japan, N. China, and E. China south to the Yangtse. Winters
to India, Burma, and S. China* (Peters).
migration. No precise data.
AcdfiiUr nhus
general habits. Usually solitary. When disturbed, drops from a branch,
flies very low and flat along the ground, shooting up almost vertically to
alight in another tree. Method of hunting as of the genus — by Surprise
tactics. Either pounces on quarry from an ambush up in a leafy tree or
cruises at great speed close along the ground with rapid wing-beats and
glides, * hedge-hopping * to stampede little birds resting within a hedge-
row or bu&h or feeding unsuspectingly on the ground, getting a flying start
on any that panic and dash out and striking in its stride, sometimes almost
turning on its back to seize the quarry from underneath. Turns and twists
skilfully in pursuit to avoid tree-trunks and other obstacles. The victim is
carried off some distance and usually eaten on the ground, held underfoot
and dismembered by upward pulls of the hooked bill. Often soars and
HAWKS, VULTURES, ETC. 245
circles aloft like Shikra. The female ( basha ) is a favourite with falconers, and
trained to strike hares and birds much larger and heavier than itself.
pood. Chiefly birds: quails, partridges, and doves, and others normally
up to about its own size and weight. Individual birds sometimes become
* habitual offenders f and a serious menace to poultry keepers, carrying off
chickens and ducklings.
voice and calls. Quite different to Shikra’s; two long notes followed
by three or four very short ones repeated quickly, something like
(Donald).
breeding. Extralimital, except perhaps in Gilgit. See next.
Museum Diagnosis. In the hand the very slender tarsus and long thin middle
toe readily distinguish it from Shikra. For details of plumage etc. see Baker, loc. cit.
Also Witherby 1939, 3: 82-4 for nominate A. n, nisus which is somewhat smaller
and darker, but less dark than No. 148.
MEASUREMENTS
Wing Bill Tarsus Tail
(from feathers)
204-216 16-17 c. 55-59 150-161 mm.
9 9 233-257 18-19 c. 60-65 175-207 mm.
(SA, Baker)
Middle toe without claw cT 35 36 mm.; 9 over 40 mm. (for A. n. nisus — Hartert).
Weight 5-5-3 oz. (r. 142-147 gm.); 79 9 7-9*5 oz. (c. 198-270 gm.)—
Scully.
colours of bare parts. Iris : adult golden yellow or orange; immature pale
yellow. Bill slaty blue with black tip; cere yellow. Legs and feet vcllow; claws black.
148. Indian Sparrow-Hawk. Accipiter nisus melaschistos Hume
Accipiter Melaschistos Hume, 1869, Rough Notes, March; 128
(Interior of the Himalayas)
Baker, FBI No. 1812, Vol. 5: 158
Plate 10, fig. 2, facing p. 192
local names. Basha 9 « Bashin (Hindis.
size. House Crow — ; Shikra Length c. 31-36 cm. ( 12—14 in,).
field characters. A medium-sized short-winged hawk. Very like
147 but markedly darker slate above, and much more rufous below,
especially male. Not always distinguishable with certainty from 147 or from
Shikra.
status, distribution and habitat. Resident (breeding) Baluchistan,
NW. Himalayas, Kashmir and eastward along the entire range through
Nepal, Sikkim and Bhutan to E. Assam from c. 1400 to 3500 metres altitude.
Observed in E. Nepal in spring and summer as high as between c * 3960
and 4570 m, alt. (Biswas). Descends in winter to the foothills and
plains at their base, but winter range indeterminate owing to possible
confusion in sight records with the immigrant nisostmilis. Affects forest and
well-wooded country,
Extralimital. * Breeds from Kashmir east to the Minshan Range, south
to the Himalayas and Upper Burma s (Peters).
246 FALCONIFORMES
general habits, food and voice. No difference from 147 recorded.
In Baluchistan Ticehurst found its chief prey to be the bunting Emberiza
stewartu
breeding. Season, April to June. Nest, a stick platform in a tree,
commonly a disused nest of a Himalayan Jungle Crow or other bird;
sometimes self-built on ledges of cliffs. Eggs , 4 to 6 — normally 4 — roundish
ovals, buffy reddish white or bluish white, spotted and blotched with
reddish brown or blackish brown, with secondary markings of pale reddish
or lavender-grey. Average size of 60 eggs 39*1 X 32*6 mm. (Baker). Both
sexes take part in nest construction, but apparently the female alone
incubates, though the male assists in foraging for the young. Incubation
period not ascertained; estimated by Baker as 30 to 31 days. Normally
said not to use a nest for more than one season. Birds very noisy when
nesting.
Museum Diagnosis. Much darker and slatier than A. n. nisosimilis „ the white tips
of the nape feathers in male very broad. Underparts of adult male strongly rust-red;
of adult female also redder.
MEASUREMENTS
Wing
&& 202-219
9 9 242-260
COLOURS or barf parts. As in 147.
Bill
(from feathers)
c. 16-17 mm.
c. 19-21 mm.
Agcipiter virgatus (Temminck)
Key to the Subspecies
A Throat with narrow, sometimes indistinct, mesial line. . . , . . A. v. gtilaru
B Throat with broad black mesial line 1
1 Smaller; wing c. 145-166 mm., 9 r. 182-189 mm A. v, besra
Larger; wing c? c - 165-1 74 mm., 9 c. 199-210 mm a
a Paler; upperparts dove grey, underparts paler
A. v , kashmitiensis
Darker; upperparts sooty grey, underparts rufous A.v. qffinis
Page
250
249
246
247
149. West Himalayan Besra Sparrow-Hawk. Accipiter virgatus
kashmiriensis Whistler & Kinnear
AccipiUr virgatus kashmiriensis Whistler & Kinnear, 1936, Jour, Bom. nat. Hist.
Soc., 38: 435 (Murree)
Not in Baker, FBI
local names. Besra 9 , Dhooti c?i fChand besra (Hindi).
size. House Crow — ; Shikra Length c. 31-36 cm. (c. 12-14 in.).
field characters. A medium -sized short-winged Shikra-like hawk
with a bold black mesial stripe on throat ( contra narrow and grey in Shikra;
absent in Sparrow-Hawk). May be confused with both Shikra and Sparrow-
Hawk, but its broad black throat-stripe and predominantly forest habitat
will serve as pointers. Indistinguishable in the field from A. v. affinis (No. 150)
q.v. (See Museum Diagnosis below.)
247
HAWKS, VULTURES, ETC.
status, distribution and habitat. Resident in Kashmir, Himachal
Pradesh and Garhwal up to c. 3000 m. altitude, descending in winter to the
foothills and adjacent plains in the Punjab and Uttar Pradesh. East to
Nepal, but precise boundary between eastern and western forms undefinable.
Affects broken forested country.
GENERAL HABITS, FOOD, etc. As in No. 150.
voice and calls. Unrecorded.
breeding has been recorded between c. 1000 and 2000 m, elevation
in Kashmir (Lolab valley), U.P. [(Kumaon, Dehra Dun dist. (Mussooree),
Nainital dist. (Bhim Tal)], Himachal Pradesh (Simla dist.). Nest and Eggs
as in 150*
Museum Diagnosis. Differs from A. v. qffinis as follows:
Male (adult). Upperparts definitely paler with more of a dove-grey tint as
opposed to sooty grey. Underparts slightly paler.
Young (immature) male: Upperparts markedly paler both as regards the
brown colour of the feathers and the rufous edges to them. Pale area of hindneck
white as opposed to rich rufous. Underparts much paler, lacking the rich rufous
wash on the throat and breast found in eastern birds.
Female (adult and immature) cannot individually be separated, but in a
series western birds are slightly paler (Whistler, loc. cit.).
MEASUREMENTS
Wing Bill Tarsus Tail
(from skull)
5 (ft? 1 (ad.) 165-167 18 49-5-53 127*5-130 mm.
5 99 (ad.) 196-207 21-5-23 55-58-5 153-160 mm.
(Whistler)
COLOURS OF BARE FARTS. As in 150.
150. East Himalayan Besra Sparrow-Hawk. Accipiter virgatus qffinis
Hodgson
Accipiter affinis Hodgson, 1836, Bengal Sporting Mag., n.s., 8: 179 (Nepal)
Baker, FBI No. 1814, Vol. 5: 161
local names. Same as for 149.
size* House Crow — ; Shikra Length c. 31-36 cm. (c. 12-14 in.).
field characters. A medium-sized short-winged hawk very like Shikra
but with a conspicuous black mesial stripe on throat in both sexes, adult
and young.
Male (adult). Above , blackish slaty grey, the white bases of nape feathers
usually showing through. Tail square-ended, grey, with three (or four)
blackish bands visible. Below , chin and throat white with a conspicuous
broad blackish mesial stripe and two faint moustachial streaks. Upper
breast and flanks rufous; lower breast and abdomen sometimes barred
with same.
Female (adult). Above , dark chocolate-brown turning to slaty black
on crown and nape. Below, as in male.
Young (immature). Above , dark brown with edges of feathers rich
rufous. Below , white broadly streaked with brown on breast and abdomen
and barred on flanks. Sometimes five blackish cross-bars on tail.
248 FALCONIFORMES
May be distinguished from Shikra and Sparrow-Hawk by its predomi-
nantly forest habitat and, on a good view, by the bold black mesial throat-
stripe (narrow and grey in Shikra; absent in Sparrow-Hawk).
status, distribution and habitat. Resident (breeding) Nepal and east-
ward along the Himalayas to the Assam hills north and south of Brahma-
putra river, and Manipur (and East Pakistan ?), between 1000 and 2000 m.
elevation. Descending in winter to the foothills and adjacent plains. Affects
broken forested country.
ExtralimitaL Breeds also in the hills of W. China, Yunnan, and N.
Burma. Winters south to S. China (including Hainan and Taiwan), Burma,
Thailand, and the Indochinese countries.
general habits. Very similar to those of Shikra and Sparrow-Hawk
of which, in effect, it is the ecological counterpart in heavily forested tracts.
Often seen perched on tall dead trees on the verge of evergreen jungle;
flight before alighting reminiscent of a dove (A. E. Jones). Very quick on
the wing in pursuit of prey, turning and twisting to dodge obstacles with
great adroitness. Baker records one capturing a palm swift ( Cypsiurus ).
In winter keeps to opener, less wooded country in the plains with groves
of trees etc. and there most liable to be confused with Shikra.
food. Chiefly small birds, of which the following recorded: barbets,
bulbuls, thrushes, sparrows, tits, warblers. Baker found remains of small
flying squirrels, mice and bats in addition to birds under its nests. Also takes
lizards and insects. The larger female (besra) was trained to strike partridge,
dove, quail, and even snipe; the smaller male, rosy pastors, mynas, sparrows,
etc. (Jerdon). Considered by some falconers to be faster and more tenacious
than kasha ( 9 sparrow-hawk).
voice and calls. Except that it is 4 very noisy * while nesting and in
defence of nest, nothing recorded.
breeding. Season, March to June, chiefly April and May. Nest , a plat-
form of sticks c. 15 to 25 rn. up in a densely foliaged deodar (Cedrus deodara) or
other tree in forest, often one growing from the side of a precipice and over-
looking a ravine. Old nests of Jungle Crows and other birds frequently
appropriated. Eggs, 3 to 5, very handsome, indistinguishable from those
of the other races and also typical of the sparrow-hawks. Roundish oval in
shape, variable in coloration: most commonly bluish white, freckled,
blotched, and smudged with reddish biown at the broader end. Average
size of 68 eggs 38*2 X 30*5 mm. (Baker). Share of the sexes in the domestic
chores, and period of incubation, unrecorded.
Museum Diagnosis. Adult male, darker and more sooty grey above, richer rufous
below, than A. v. kashmiriensis , q.v.
Differs from S. Indian A, v. besra in being larger; darker, more blackish grey
above, richer coloured below’.
MEASUREMENTS
Wing Bill Tarsus Tail
(from skull)
6 ^(ffad.) 165-173*5 18-20 48-5-53 123-135-5 mm.
5 9 9 (ad.) 199-210 22-24 54*5-61 151-167 mm.
(Whistler)
Two additional 9 9 from Nepal (Biswas) fall within the above range.
HAWKS, VULTURES, ETC. 24#
colours of bare parts. Iris golden yellow or orange-yellow ; in young birds
grey or greyish white, and later pale yellow. Bill slaty grey with black tip; cere
lemon- yellow. Legs and feet bright yellow; claws blackish.
151. Southern Besra Sparrow-Hawk* Accipiter virgatus besra Jerdon
Accipitet Besra Jerdon, 1839, Madras Jour. Lit. Sci., 10: 84
(Soonda Jungles, South India)
Baker. FBI No. 1813, Vol. 5: 159
Plate 10, fig. 3, facing p. 192
local names. Vaishtapa dega (Telugu); Urchitlu (Kannada); (Jkussa , Kurrulh
goya (Sinhala) ; Sinna valluru (Tamil).
size. House Crow — ; Shikra Length c . 29-34 cm. (c. 11-13 in.).
field characters. A medium-sized, short-winged Shikra-like hawk
with conspicuous black mesial stripe on throat. Similar to No. 150 (q.v.)
but somewhat smaller and paler.
status, distribution and habitat. Resident in Ceylon (all zones) up
to c . 1800 m. elevation, and the Western Ghats strip including Nilgiri and
Palni Hills through Kerala north at least to Bombay. Once in Gujarat
(Saurashtra), Sparingly in E. Ghats in Madras State, but status there un-
certain. Confined to evergreen and moist deciduous biotope; affects heavy
forest between c. 600 and at least 1200 metres elevation.
general habits, food, etc. As in 150.
voice and calls. ‘ A frequently uttered squealing cry, rapidly repeated,
tchew-tchew-tchew . . .’ (Mrs Lushington).
BREEDING. Season , March to May. Nest and site as in 150, the former
often lined with green leaves. Shabby old nests of other birds likewise
repaired and utilized. Eggs , 3 or 4 — exceptionally 5 — like those of 150,
similarly variable. Average size of 60 eggs 36*9 x 29-7 mm. (Baker).
Share of the sexes in the domestic chores, and incubation period, unrecorded.
Museum Diagnosis. Male (adult) similar to 150 but differs in being smaller
and much paler above, more slaty grey than blackish gre\, the head, back, and
lesser wing-coverts darker. Be low also paler rufescent.
Female dark brown without the chocolate tint; the crown only slightly darker
than back. In its smaller size it matches the more richly coloured nominate race
(virgutus) of Java.
MEASUREMENTS
Wing
Bill
(from skull)
Tarsus
Tail
4 & (ad.)
148 155
17- 18
45*5-48
112-119*5 mm.
1 9 (ad.)
183*5
22
—
142 mm.
49 9 (imnL)
178-187
21-22*5
52 - 55
137-148 mm.
(Whistler)
Baker gives:
Wing
Bill
(from feathers)
Tarsus
Tail
145-166
15-16
44-47
114 -118 mm.
9 9
182-189
18-20
46-53
136-145 mm.
COLOURS OF BARE
Parts.
As in 150.
250 FALCONIFORMES
152. Eastern Sparrow-Hawk. Accipiter virgatus gularis (Temminck &
Schlegel)
Astur (ffisus) gularis (Temminck & Schlegel), 1845, in Sicbold, Fauna Jap., Avcs,
5, pi. 2 (Japan)
Accipiter nitride i Blyth, 1847, Jour. Asiat. Soc. Bengal, 16: 727 (Malacca)
Baker, FBI Nos. 1815, 1817, Vol. 5: 162, 164
local names. None recorded.
size. House Crow — ; Shikra ±. Length c. 29-34 cm. ( c . 1 1-13 in.).
field characters. As in 150, but adult male more or less uniformly
blackish slaty above (blacker on crown), without white marks on nape*
Below , chin and throat white with a narrow black mesial line. Rest of under*
parts varying from pale to intense rufous with faint traces of barring, often
obsolete on lower breast, flanks, and abdomen. Tail with four blackish
cross-bands.
Female (adult). Above , dark brown, blackish on head. Below , a distinct
black mesial line on white chin and throat. Lower parts barred with grey-
brown or rufous and white from foreneck to vent.
Young (immature). Above , brown, the feathers edged with buff or
rufous. Below, black mesial streak on throat bolder. Breast with broad brown
streaks or drops; abdomen broadly barred.
status, distribution and habitat. Resident (breeding) in the Andaman
Is.; not uncommon near Port Blair (B. B. Osmaston). Occurs in the
Nicobars; probably breeding, but status unconfirmed.
ExtralimitaL Breeds also in Japan and China. Winter visitor to the
Philippines. Scarce in Burma, apparently only in winter (?). Winter visitor
and common passage migrant (autumn and spring) through Malaya
where status undetermined.*
migration. An immature male taken on board ship in the Bay of Bengal
c . 10°N. lat., 90°E. long, on 22 April 1952 (F. Salomonsen, 1953, Dansk .
Orn. For . Tidr., 47: 138).
general habits and food. As in 1 50.
voice and calls. Unrecorded.
breeding. Season in the Andamans principally March-April. Nest $
crow-like, of sticks as in 150, often old nests of other birds; in roadside trees
near habitation, mangrove forest, and padauk ( Pterocarpus marsupium)
plantation (Wickham; Osmaston). Eggs, 3, coloured as in the other races.
Average size of 14 eggs 36*7 x 29*5 mm. (Baker). Owners plucky and
aggressive in defence of nest. Other details unrecorded.
Museum Diagnosis. First primary (as.) about equal in length to longest secondary.
2nd primary equal to 6th or somewhat longer; 4th primary longest, 3rd and 5th
only slightly shorter. Outer web of 2nd primary attenuated quite near its base;
of 3rd, 4th and 5th more so and extending further upward from base (Hartert).
Throat with narrow black mesial line.
1 Gibson-Hilly C. A., 1949, An Annotated Checklist of the Birds of Malaya , Raffles Mas. Bull .
No. 20, Singapore.
HAWKS, VULTURES, ETC. 251
MEASUREMENTS
Wing
Bill
(from feathers)
Tarsus
Tail
156-173
14-15
51-54
117-137 mm.
99
182-198
16-18
— -
(Baker)
Three specimens collected recently by H. Abdulali in the
Andamans measure:
Middle and South
Wing
Bill
(from skull)
Tarsus
Tail
1 <? (ad.)
150
15
45
105 mm.
1 o' (imm.)
159 -1-
16
49
1 1 1 mm.
19 (ad.)
187
22
53
133 mm.
(SA)
colours of bare parts. Iris c? crimson (La Touche) ; 9 straw yellow (White-
head). Bill slaty blue, tipped black; cere yellow. Legs and feet yellow; claws black.
Genus Buteo Lac^pfcde
Buteo Lac£pfcde, 1799, Tabl. Ois. : 4. Type, by tautonymy, Falco buteo Linnaeus
Very closely allied to Aquila (eagles) from which it differs in its weaker bill and
feet, the absence of a regular immature plumage, and the extreme individual varia-
tion exhibited by the members in their coloration, largely independent of age or sex.
Bill moderate or small; culmcn curved from cere; commissure almost straight;
festoon on cutting edge obsolete. Nostrils oval and oblique. Wings long: 4th primary
(as.) longest or about equal to 5th and 3rd. First four quills deeply notched on inner
web near tip. Tail rather long, slightly rounded at end. Tarsus long, partly feathered
in front, transversely scutcllated behind. Toes short; inner toe much shorter than
outer. (Tarsus and toes almost identical with Haliastur , q.v.)
Genus widely distributed in Europe, Africa, America, and Asia, but unrepresented
southeast from India.
Key to the Species
Page
A Distance from tip of longest primary to longest secondary (closed wing)
145 mm. or more 1
B Distance from tip of longest primary to longest secondary (closed wing)
less than 145 mm 2
1 Pale above, inner webs of central tail-feathers generally white, tarsus
81-90 mm B. hemilasius 253
Dark above tipped with bright rufous, inner webs of central tail-
feathers ashy grey, tarsus 56-77 mm B . ruftnus 252
2 Tail rufous, wing smaller: c? 350-385 mm.; 9 350-390 mm. 8
B . vulpinus 254
Tail dark brown, wing larger: cP 374-379 mm. ; 9 389-454 mm.*. . . .
* B . buteo 255
1 Composite of A. v. gutaris and A. v. nitrides, now considered synonymous.
* For the sake of consistency, the measurements given above are taken from Stuart Baker,
but those of Vaurie (Am, Mu$, Nov, No. 2042, 1961, p. 9) seem a little more discrete and
dear cut and are listed below for comparison.
B, vulpinus — wing cP 343-370 (353); 9 358-383 (369)
B. butm — wing ($* 362-400 (375); 9 370-408 ^389)
252 FALCONIFORMES
153. Longlegged 1 Buzzard. Buko rufinus rufinus (Crctzschmar)
Falca rufinus Crctzschmar, 1826, in Ruppell’s Atlas Vog, 49, pi. 27
(Upper Nubia, Schcndi and Scnnar, and Ethiopia)
Baker, FBI No. 1796, Vol. 5: 137
Plate 10, fig. 7, facing p. 192
local name. Chtlhamdr (Hindi).
size. Pariah Kite; length c . 61 cm. (24 in.).
field characters. Like a small eagle or immature Brahminy Kite
( Haliastur indus) in general aspect ancl proportions. Extremely variable in
coloration, ranging from dark brown through reddish brown and fulvous to
pale sandy, with brown or almost white head, neck, and breast, and some-
times blackish moustachial stripes. The heavy build
and somewhat sluggish habit, coupled with variable
chocolate- or cinnamon-brown plumage, pale or
dark head and unfeathered legs are suggestive.
In overhead aspect the short neck, expanded,
rounded, transversely barred tail — pale to bright
rufous or rufous-brown — and whitish or dark
brown halfmoon-shaped patches on the chestnut-
tinged underside of the broad ‘ splayed finger *
wings are fairly diagnostic of a buzzard. But differen-
tiation as to species with certainty impossible in
the field, and not easy even with the bird in the
hand (see Museum Diagnosis).
In Longlegged Buzzard pale creamy rufous tail
with obsolete brown cross-bars and a broader pro-
minent subterminal band are pointers to identity.
In immature birds (?) tail ashy brown with
numerous dark transverse bars.
status, distribution and habitat. Within our limits breeds in the
Himalayas in NW. Pakistan (Peshawar and Kohat dists.); reportedly also
in Baluchistan (Ziarat and Chaman dists.), and in India in Ladakh (?),
Kashmir and Garhwal, between c. 1500 and 3700 m. elevation. Winter
visitor September/October to end March to Nepal (terai and Valley)
and Sikkim, the birds in the E. Himalayas being probably derived from the
E. Turkestan- Mongolian breeding area. Fairly common in winter in Sind
and N. India cast to Upper Assam (N. Lakhiinpur dist.) south to the Deccan
and possibly further, but specific sight records of buzzards unsupported by
skins unsatisfactory. In breeding area affects hilly forest country with open
glades cte. ; in winter range* every type, from semi-desert and cultivation
to deciduous forest.
ExtralimilaL * Breeds from S. Russia, Kirghiz Steppes, Turkestan and
W. Mongolia, south to Greece, Asia Minor, and the W. Himalayas. Winters
chiefly in Africa from N. Sudan to the valleys of the White and Blue
Nile, and in NW. India * (Peters). Eastward to N. Burma.
general habits. More or less common to all buzzards. In winter range
usually seen singly or in pairs perched sluggishly on a tree-top, or on a stone
1 This is a misnomer. The name rightly belongs to Buteo hemilasius (154) which possesses
the longest tarsi of all our buzzards.
x c. i
HAWKS, VULTURES, ETC, 253
or mound in open hummocky country. Numbers will sometimes collect
(6 or 7 observed loosely together — SA) at jungle fires or fired grass patches
to feast on the fleeing lizards, rats, and insects in company with other
raptors and drongos, etc., frequently sauntering about on the charred
ground to pick up their roasted remains. Hunts live prey by pouncing on
it from a lookout post or from 30 metres or so up in the air where it some-
times hovers, head to wind like a kestrel, though rather cumbrously, to
scan the ground. Much given to soaring and circling for hours on end high
up in the heavens on outspread motionless wings. On approach of breeding
season pairs indulge in spectacular aerobatic displays — flying round each
other, plunging and stooping with wings half pulled in, shooting up with
the momentum almost vertically to a wave crest, then tilting forward to
nose-dive again. Occasionally a bird will do a perfect ‘ loop the loop
turning over completely on its back during the manoeuvre.
food. Carrion, small mammals, sick and disabled birds, reptiles, frogs,
locusts and other large orthopterous insects, etc. Occasionally takes domestic
chickens and pigeons. In north-western semi-desert areas preys largely on
gcrbilles ( Meriones hurrianae) and fat-tailed lizards ( Uromastix hardwickii) ; in
Kashmir (Gulmarg) on voles (Microtinae) and mouse-hares ( Ochotona )
— (Osmaston).
voice and calls. A loud, wailing, kitten-like mewing uttered from
time to time. Particularly noisy on approach of breeding season and during
the aerial displays.
breeding. Authentic data very meagre. Season , c, March to May. J\ r est,
a large stick structure built in a high tree growing on a forested hillside,
or on a crag or shelf of rock. Eggs , 2 or 3, sometimes 4 ( ?), very broad ovals,
variable in colour and markings : white to greyish or buff, blotched all over
or only at larger end with deep rich brown with some obsolete grey smears.
Average size of 8 Indian- taken eggs 59-6 x 47*6 mm. (Baker), which
agrees fairly closely with the average of European eggs.
Share of the sexes in domestic chores, period of incubation, etc.,
unrecorded in India.
Museum Diagnosis. Tail in adult rufimts pale rufous with barring obsolete except
for a dark subterminal band. For description of various plumage phases see Baker,
loc, eit.
MEASUREMENTS
Wing
Bill
(from feathers)
Tarsus
Tail
415-431
32-34
56-62
228-250 mm.
99
428-458
—
60-77
230-257 mm.
(Baker)
COLOURS
OF BARE PARTS.
Iris golden brown or
yellowish brown. Bill homy
brownish slate, black at tip, yellowish at base of lower mandible and gape; cere
yellowish green. Legs and feet dingy or pale lemon-yellow.
154. Upland Buzzard. Buteo hemilasius Tcmminck & Schlegel
Buteo hemilasius Tcmminck & Schlegel, 1845 (1844), in Siebold, Fauna Jap.,
Aves : 18, pi. 7 (Japan)
Baker, FBI No. 1197, Vol. 5: 140
Plate 10, fig. 9, facing p* 192
254
FALCONIFORMRS
local name. ChUhamar (Hindi) for all buzzards.
size. Pariah Kite +; c. 71 cm. (28 in.).
field characters. Similar to Longlegged Buzzard, slightly larger,
but also extremely variable in coloration and doubtfully identifiable in the
field. A usual phase is pale greyish brown above, with some rufous on nape,
upper back and upper tail-coverts. White bases of feathers conspicuous on
head and neck. Below , streaked with brown on throat, and with large brown
irregular spots on breast and abdomen. Sometimes underparts all brown.
Tail brown rather than rufous, with a subterminal and seven other bars,
somewhat more clearly visible than in Longlegged Buzzard.
status, distribution and habitat. Not satisfactorily worked out owing
to possible confusion with other species. Evidently a rare winter visitor to
the Himalayas. Very few records; specimens definitely identified only from
Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Nepal, Sikkim.
ExtralimitaL * Breeds from Lake Baikal to Ussuri and the Amur south to
Tibet and Mongolia, probably also in N. China. Winters Sbuth to India,
Burma and C. China * (Peters).
general habits, food, etc. Similar to 153. No information available
specifically for India. Apparently more powerful than Longlegged Buzzard,
reported in Tibet as preying on hares, Tibetan Sandgrouse ( Syrrhaptes
tibetanus) and snowcock ( Tetraogallus tibetanus ) , and alleged to take young
lambs (F. M. Bailey).
voice and calls. Unrecorded in India.
breeding. Extralimital as far as known, but possibly may nest in the
higher Himalayas. Nest , a large stick structure on ledges of cliffs etc.
Museum Diagnosis. Tail in adults with one subterminal and seven other bars;
base and inner webs of rcctrices white; Ranks dark brown. Tarsi closely feathered
in front down to bases of toes; naked and scutellated behind. For description of
plumage phases see
Baker, loc. cit.
measurements
Wing
Bill
Tarsus
Tail
c?9
480-501
(from feathers)
34-36
81-90
255-282 mm.
(Baker)
colours of bare parts. Iris buff to golden yellow, or white. Bill bluish or dusky
horn, paler and yellowish at gape and on base of lower mandible; cere greenish
yellow. Legs and feet wax yellow, or yellowish grey; claws black.
155. Desert Buzzard. BuUo vulpinus vulpinus (Gloger)
Falco vulpinus * Licht.* « Gloger, 1833, Das Abandem der Vdgel: 141 (Africa)
Baker, FBI No. 1798, Vol. 5; 142
local names. Dang pang ti on, Pang ti ong nok (Le pcha),
size. Pariah Kite — ; length c» 51—56 cm. {20-22 in.).
field characters. Similar to Longlegged Buzzard but smaller^ Also
variable in coloration. In a common phase:
Adult. Above, brown, the feathers largely edged with rufous. Below ,
rufous, paler on throat, faintly barred and spotted on abdomen. Tail
HAWKS, VULTURES, ETC. 255
diagnostic bright rufous ( 0 . pale creamy rufous in Longlegged) with a dark
subterminal band and generally one or two more visible on outer rectrices.
Sexes alike.
Another phase (age ?) is whitish or pale buff below, more distinctly
barred with light rufous-brown.
status, distribution and habitat. Claimed to breed in W. Pakistan
(NWF. Province) and Kashmir, but records uncertain and conflicting.
Occurrence south of the Himalayas unconfirmed.
Extralimital. 1 Breeds from the tJrals and SE. Russia east to the Kentei
Mountains and Turkestan. Winters in E. Africa, Arabia, and W. India ’
(Peters).
general habits, food, voice, etc. Nothing unequivocally recorded
for India. ‘ A shrill, harsh ky-yah , much harsher than the mewing cry of
Buteo buteo ’ (Kirke-Swann).
breeding. Doubtful. Season in NWFP. and Kashmir mentioned by
Baker as March to May. Needs confirmation by collecting of breeding
birds.
Museum Diagnosis. Tail bright rufous. Tarsus normally only one- third feathered
in front; sometimes half. Naked portion scutellated in front; rarely reticulated
(Baker). For description of plumages see Baker, loc. cit.; Witherby 1939, 3: 55-6.
measurements
Wing Bill Tarsus Tail
(from cere)
c?c? 350- 385 20-23 65-75 175-195 mm.
9 9 350-390 — — —
(Witherby)
colours of bare parts. Iris hazel to yellow. Bill dark plumbeous, lighter at
base and gape; cere yellow. Legs and feet yellow; claws black.
156. Blizzard. Buteo buteo burrnanicus Hume
Buteo burrnanicus Hume, 1875, Stray Feathers, 3: 30, in text
(Thayetmyo, Upper Pegu)
Baker, FBI No. 1799, Vol. 5; 143
Plate 10, fig. 8, facing p. 192
local Names. For all buzzards Chuhdmdr (Hindi); Vkussa (Tamil); Parundu
(Tamil, Malayalam — apparently general for all hawks).
size. Pariah Kite—; length c . 51-56 cm. (20-22 in.).
held characters. Like other buzzards has dark and light plumage
phases. In one of these, with creamy brown head and patchy underwing,
confusingly like immature Brahminy Kite ( Haliaslur indus). Field identi-
fication unreliable, (See Museum Diagnosis.)
status, distribution and habitat. Unsatisfactorily known owing to
chaos in nomenclature, confusion jin field identifications, and lack of better
collected material. All Indian records of buzzards, especially of breeding,
should be treated with reservation unless supported by skins.
Irregular and uncommon but widespread winter visitor. N. India, Nepal,
(between c. 275 and 2240 m. alt.), Sikkim (?), western Deccan (?), ! Kerala
(hills), Ceylon (all zones, to c. 2000 m. alt,).
256
FALCON! FORMES
ExtralimitaL * Breeds in Asia from E. Turkestan and the Upper Yenesei
north toDauria and Lake Baikal, east to Ussuriland, south to the Himalayas,
Manchuria, Korea, and Japan. Winters south to India, Burma, and S.
China * (Peters),
Common Buzzard (B. buieo)
Roughlegged Buzzard ( B . lagopus). SE
Overhead view
f Diagrammatic sketches by L. Tinbergen)
general habxts, food, voice, etc. Uiuecorded specifically.
breeding. ExtraHmital. Nesi> the usual slick structure built on ledges
of cliffs or on the ground on steep hillsides.
Museum Diagnosis. Tail more brown than rufous, with 4 or 5 nearlv obsolete
dark bars; flanks and thighs riifour. Feathering on tarsus variable; in most birds
covering half to two-thirds in front. For description of plumage phases see Bakei ,
loc. cit.
Distinguished from immature Brahminy Kite ( Haliastur indus) in comparable
colour phase by longer tarsus: 63- 74 mm. v. 51-59 mm.
MEASUREMENTS
Wing Bill Tarsus Tail
I (from feathers)
<?<? 374- 379 r. 29 63-65 198-209 mm.
9 9 389 -454 29-36 59 74 225-248 mm.
(Baker)
colours of bare parts. Iris brown. Bill plumbeous-brown to black, the base
paler; cere yellow. Legs and feet yellow; daws black.
Genus Butastur Hodgson
Butastur Hodgson, 1843, Jour. Asiat. Soc. Bengal, 12:311, Type, by original designa-
tion, Circus teesa Franklin
Bill laterally compressed; culmen curved from base; festoon generally present
on edge of upper mandible, sometimes well marked. Nostrils oval, oblique. Wings
long: 3rd primary (as.) longest, 4th almost subequal. 2nd primary only a little
longer than 5th, these two much shorter than 3rd and 4th. First 3 primaries markedly,
4th slightly, emarginatc on inner web. Tail rounded. Toes short; tarsus considerably
longer than middle toe, feathered only at extreme top; covered with imbricate
shields, rather larger in front.
Genus rq>resented in Africa and the Oriental Region; only one species within
our limits.
PLATE i {
I Spizaetus ( cinhulus ) Unmeet us, Changeable Hawk-Eagle (160). 2 Halmeetus leucogaster, Wliilebellied
Sea Eagle (173). 3 Spizaehis w. nipalemis , Hodgson’s Hawk-Eagle (K f >8). 4 Circaetus g. galliots.
Short-toed Eagle (195). , r > Aquda n. nipalemis , Steppe Eagle (169). 0 Aquila clanga , (neater Spotted
Eagle (170). 7 Aquila c. daphanea. Holden Eagle (166). B Aquilu heliaca. Imperial Eagle (167\
HAWKS, VULTURES, ETC. 257
157. White-eyed Buzzard-Eagle. Butastur tecsa (Franklin)
Circus Teesa Franklin, 1832 (1831), Proc. zool. Soc. Lond., pt. 1 : 1 15
(Farther India =* Ganges-Nerbudda, apud Baker)
Baker, FBI No. 1774, Vol. 5: 104
Plate 11, fig. 1, facing p. 208
local names. Tisa (Hindi); Buda mali gedda (Telugu); Tellur (Yerkali); Parundu
(Malay alam, for all hawks).
size. Jungle Crow length r. 43 cm. (17 in.).
field characters. A small greyish brown hawk with white throat, two
dark cheek-stripes, and a third central stripe running down from chin. A
small whitish patch on nape. Underparts brown and whitish. Orange-yellow
cere and white (or pale yellow) eyes conspicuous at close range and through
binoculars. At rest closed wings reach almost to end of rufous-tinged tail.
Sexes alike.
In overhead flight silvery grey-brown undersides of broad, blunt wings,
contrasting with darker body, a suggestive clue. From above a patch of
buffy grey on wing shoulder is conspicuous.
Young (immature). Feathers of crown and nape brown with broad pale
edges. Forehead and a broad supercilium buffy white. Underparts variable,
white to buff, the feathers more or less streaked with dark brown. Cheek-
stripes narrow or absent.
status, distribution and habitat. Resident practically throughout
our area from about 1200 m. in the Himalayas (less common south of
Madhya Pradesh) to Kanyakumari, and from W. Pakistan (Baluchistan)
to Assam and E. Pakistan. Nepal. Absent in Ceylon. Affects open deciduous
forest, and scrub-and-bush and cultivated country in the plains. Avoids
moist forest biotope.
ExtralimitaL Northern and western Burma south to Tenasserim.
general habits. Sluggish and usually tame. Single birds seen day after
day perched on the same stump, tree-top or telegraph pole in a chosen
locality whence they pounce on any small animals of
manageable size that show themselves in the surround-
ings below. Sometimes one will take up its position
on the ground, on some mound or boundary stone
in scrub jungle or cultivation whence to hurl itself on
any lizard or grasshopper that stirs in the proximity,
changing the coign of vantage from time to time.
Occasionally walks about in the open, picking up
flying termites as they emerge from their holes, or on
charred ground after a forest fire, even while the
rubbish is still smouldering, looking for roasted
lizards and other titbits. Although somewhat sluggish,
its flight is swift and direct, attained by rapid strokes
of the rounded wings, reminiscent of a shikra. In the
breeding season the birds become very noisy. Pairs
commonly soar in circles high up in the sky for long
periods and also indulge in spectacular aerial play,
side-slipping, somersaulting, and stooping at each
other with astonishing velocity.
17
FALCONIFORMES
258
food. Rate, and mice, small snakes, lizards, frogs, crabs. Also locusts,
grasshoppers and other large insects, and winged termites — sometimes
hawked in the air. Tiiough accused of destroying quails and partridges,
it seldom takes any except a sickly or disabled one. On the contrary it is
highly beneficial as a destroyer of rats and lizards which are proven enemies
of ground game. Among stomach contents the following identified speci-
fically: Mammals: Meriones hurrianae . Reptiles: Matrix stolatus , Mabuya
carinata. Insects: Chrotogonus sp., Terms obesus, Catharsius sabaeus , Anomala
varians (larvae), Brachytrypes achatinus , Schizodactylus monstrosus , Gryllotalpa
africana (Mason & Lefroy); Acridium peregrinum (?), katydid grasshopper.
voice and calls. A peculiar plaintive, mewing pit-weer , pit-weer, con-
stantly uttered in the nest precincts in breeding season; also while the pair
is circling aloft.
breeding. Season , chiefly between February and May, varying with
locality. Nest, a loose unlined structure of twigs like a crow’s. Placed fairly
high up (9-12 m.) in the fork or thickly foliaged branch, of a tree such as
mango or neem, preferably one of a clump. Eggs, normally 3; greenish
white, broad ovals with a fairly smooth texture. Usually unmarked; rarely
with flecks of pale reddish. Average size of 100 eggs, 46*4 X 38*4 mm.
(Baker). Both sexes share in building the nest and feeding the young.
Incubation by female alone; period about 19 days.
Museum Diagnosis. In newly hatched chick prepennae and preplumulae both
present. Prepennae fairly long and plentiful over the whole body: white above,
tinged with isabelline at tips; white below. Preplumulae short, tufted, white (C. B.
Ticehurst).
MEASUREMENTS
Wing
Bill
(from skull)
Tarsus
Tail
cfo"
278-304
28-32
62-67
169-180 mm.
9 9
295-314
29-32
61-68
170-183 mm.
(SA)
colours of bare parts. Iris: adult almost white or pale yellow; immature,
brown. Bill black at tip, changing to yellow on gape, base of lower mandible, and
cere. Legs and feet dingy orange-yellow ; claws black.
Downy nestling. Iris dark brown. Bill bluish, black at tip; cere yellow. Legs
yellow, claws slate.
Genus Spizaetus VieilJot
Spizaetus Vieillot, 1816, Analyse : 24, Type, by subsequent designation, Faleo ornatus
Daudin. (Gray, 1840, List Gen. Bds. :2)
Limnaetops Baker, 1930, Fauna Brit. Ind. Bds., ed. 2, 7 : 408. Type, by original
designation, Limnaetops c, cirrhatus (Gmelin) = Faleo cirrhatus Gmelin
Gf. Amadon, D., 1953, Ibis, 95: 492-500.
An occipital crest of several long black feathers (c. 10-13 cm.) generally but not
always present. Bill short, rather deep at base; culmen laterally compressed; curved
throughout, with a prominent festoon on edge of upper mandible. Nostrils round,
ear-shaped. Wings short and rounded; 5th primary (as.) longest or 4th and 5th
subequal. Longest primary exceeds longest secondary by less than length of tarsus.
Tail longer than in most true eagles, approximating the Sparrow-Hawk in its
HAWKS, VULTURES, ETC. 259
proportions. Tarsus long and slender; fully feathered. Toes short and stout; outer
toe longer than inner; claws long and well curved.
A forest-haunting genus, represented in Africa, tropical America and throughout
the Oriental Region.
Key to the Species
Feathering of tarsus extending to division of toes S. nipalensis
Feathering of tarsus not extending to division of toes S. cirrhatus
Page
259
261
Spizaetus nipalensis (Hodgson)
Key to the Subspecies
Darker and larger; wing 9 440-502 mm. . r. S. n. nipalensis
Paler and smaller; wing & 9 402-453 mm S. n. kelaarti
158. Hodgson’s or Feathertoed Hawk-Eagle. Spizaetus nipalensis
nipalensis (Hodgson)
Nisaetus Nipalensis Hodgson, 1836, Jour. Asiat. Soc. Bengal, 5: 229, pi. 7 (Nepal)
Baker, FBI No. 1760, Vol. 5: 89
Plate 14, fig. 3, facing p. 256
local names. Kan da panthiong t Kanzha chil (Lepcha) ; Reijore (Sikkim) ; Spotted
Hawk-Eagle of Jerdon.
size. Kite +; length c. 72 cm. (r. 29 in.).
field characters. A comparatively slender forest-frequenting eagle
with a prominent crest of a few long black feathers (white-tipped in young
birds) sticking out from hindcrown, and long, slender, feathered legs. Above ,
dark brown, barred with white on rump and upper tail-coverts. Tail dark
brown barred with dark grey. Below , two broad black moustachial streaks
to foreneck and a third down centre of chin and throat. Foreneck and upper
breast fulvous white, with broad black vertical streaks or oval drops, or
(in very old birds) broken brown-and-white barring. Remainder of under-
parts chocolate-brown, paler on lower breast, darker on abdomen. Flanks,
thigh- and under tail-coverts barred brown and white. Sexes alike; female
larger.
Young birds till their second year show a confusing variety of plumages,
and are difficult to tell in the field.
In overhead flight all hawk-eagles of this genus appear grey throughout,
the body sometimes darker sometimes lighter than the wings, profusely
barred and streaked (‘ spotted *). They may be further identified by the
short rounded wings, upturned near the end, and the longish tail.
status, distribution and habitat. Resident in the Himalayas between
600 and 2400 m. altitude from NW. Pakistan (Hazara dist.) and Kashmir
to eastern Assam, north and south of Brahmaputra river; Nepal; Manipur;
E. Pakistan (?). In winter wanders into the Gangetic Plain; has been taken
as far south as Pachmarhi (lat, 22°30'N.) in Madhya Pradesh. Affects hill
forest.
ExirdimitaL Yunnan, N. Burma (?).
260 FALCONIFORMES
general habits. Very similar to the commoner Indian Crested Hawk-
Eagle (Spizaetus c. cirrhatus) of peninsular India, q.v. Hunts from ambush
up in branches of leafy tree, at edge of forest clearing, pouncing on quarry
coming out to feed in the open. Very tractable, and easily tamed and
trained to hunt (Donald).
food. Chiefly small mammals like hares and large game birds like
pheasants. Once observed striking, carrying off and eating a fish (Inglis).
voice and calls. * A shrill metallic whistle which might easily be imi-
tated on a penny whistle 9 (A. E. Jones). More information lacking.
breeding. Season , principally February and March, sometimes extending
into April and even May. Nest, a large platform of sticks with a depression
in the centre lined with green leaves ; repaired and used in successive years.
Some birds apparently have alternate nests used irregularly, one this season
the other possibly the next. Built 12 to 25 metres up in large trees like sal
{Shorea robusta ) — in the higher Himalayas almost invariably deodar ( Cedrus
deodara) — in forest at the edge of a broad nullah or ravine overlooking forest
and cultivation. Eggs , a single, rarely 2 ; mostly of two types (a) pale clay
colour or reddish white, profusely stippled with red and spattered with
darker red or red-brown blotches, (b) white, variously blotched and spotted
with rich red, chiefly at the broader end. Average size of 1 6 eggs 69-9 X 53-8
mm. (Baker). Share of the sexes in building unrecorded. Apparently female
alone incubates; period unknown. Birds very bold and truculent in defence
of nest.
Museum Diagnosis. In the species nipalensis feathering of tarsus extends to base
of toes, contra in cirrhatus where it terminates just above them. For plumages and
other details see Baker, loc. cit., and Amadou, loc. cit. infra.
MEASUREMENTS
Wing Bill Tarsus
(from feathers)
d»9 475-491 38-39 c. 180
A sexed 9 (from Himalayas) has wing 502 mm.
Amadon 1 gives for Indian examples:
1 ad. Wing 440; 1 imm. 415 mm.
2 9 9 ad. Wing 440, 480; 1 9 imm. 440? mm.
colours of bare parts. Adult: Iris brilliant golden yellow. Bill black; cere
blackish grey. Feet pale dull yellow, yellowish white, or livid yellow; claws black
(Baker).
Iris in nestling bluish grey; in young (1 to 2 years old) bright yellow; then bright
golden and finally orange in very old birds (Donald).
159. Legge’s or Ceylon Feathertoed Hawk-Eagle* Spizaetus nipalensis
kelaarti Legge
Spizaetus kelaarti Legge, 1878, Ibis: 202 (Ceylon)
Baker, FBI No. 1762, Vol 5: 91
local names. Maha konde rajaliya (Sinhala) ; Periya konde rasali, Kaluga (Tamil),
size. Kite +; length c . 70 cm. (c. 28 in.).
Tail
283-298 mm.
(Baker)
1 Amadon, Dean (1953): ‘ Remarks on the Asiatic Hawk-Eagles of the genus Spizaetus,*
Ibis , 95: 492-500.
HAWKS, VULTURES, ETC. 261
field characters. As for the nominate race. Superficially a larger
edition of Legge’s Baza (126), q.v. Sec Museum Diagnosis, for differentiation
from No. 158 in the hand.
status, distribution and habitat. Resident* Ceylon (hill zone above
c . 600 m.); Kerala, Nilgiris, W, Mysore (Mainad). Affects evergreen hill
forest.
general habits. Same as of 158. Occasionally takes to poultry-lifting
near forest villages.
food. As in 158.
voice and calls. Normally silent. A * loud scream * while soaring
(Legge).
breeding. Season . December to February /March in Ceylon. Stewart
found most eggs in Kerala to be laid in January, j Nest and site similar to
those of the nominate race, the former often at heights of 25 to 30 m. in
lofty forest trees. Eggs, normally a singleton, white to greyish white lightly
freckled or speckled with reddish ; very similar to eggs of S, cirrhatus. Average
size of 32 eggs 69-1 x 54*6 mm. (Baker). Said to be less bold than the
northern bird in defence of nest.
Museum Diagnosis. Differs from the nominate race (158) in being smaller and
paler, especially on the underparts. However, according to Amadon, loc. cit., the
form kelaarli. requires confirmation.
MEASUREMENTS
Wing
Bill
Tarsus
(from feathers)
427-453
c. 42
107-109
9
442
—
(Baker)
A from Kerala measures: Wing 402; bill (from skull) 46; tarsus 98 • 5; tail
261 mm. (SA). The only specimen (subadult c?) examined by Amadon has wing
410 mm.
COLOURS OF BARE PARTS. As in 158.
Spizaetus cirrhatus (Gmelin)
Key to the Subspecies
A A long crest e. 10-14 mm. present S. c. cirrhatus
B Crest short or rudimentary 1
1 Larger; wing over 400 mm S . (c.) limnacetus
Smaller; wing under 400 mm S. c . andamanensis
Page
262
261
265
160. Changeable Hawk-Eagle. Spizaetus {cirrhatus) limnaeetus (Horsfield)
Falca Limnaeetus Horsfield, 1821, Trans. Linn. Soc. London, 13(1): 138 (Java)
Baker, FBI No. 1758, Vol. 5: 87
Plate 14, fig. 1, facing p. 256
local names. Sadal (Hindi, Bengali); Morhaita (Garhwal).
Size. Kite +> length c . 70 cm. (c. 28 in.).
field characters. Crest rudimentary or very small, seldom longer than
about 3 cm. Otherwise bird similar to Crested Hawk-Eagle (No* 161) but
262 FALCONIFORMES
with paler underparts, and more or less barred with rufous-white on the
brown abdomen and vent. Dimorphic : also commonly met in a mclanistic
phase with the entire plumage dark chocolate-brown, or almost black, the
latter confusable with Black Eagle (No. 172), q.v. Intermediates between
the two phase$ occur.
Young (immature). Lower parts often pure white without any spotting
or barring.
status, distribution and habitat. Resident in the sub-Himalayan
terai and duars from Garhwal to Bengal, (E. Pakistan?), and Assam;
Nepal. Affects forest biotope in the foothills and up to c. 1900 m. altitude.
j ExtralimitaL Burma, Thailand, Malay Peninsula, Indochinese countries,
Sumatra, Java, Borneo, Philippine Islands.
general habits. As in 161. Wild and wary, flying off to another perch
a hundred metres away when approached, and so on, constantly maintain-
ing distance between itself and observer. If persistently followed, becomes
suspicious and flies away over the tree-tops, quickly spiralling upward to
great height.
food. As in 161. Often becomes a habitual and determined robber of
domestic poultry from forest villages.
voice and calls. Silent except in the breeding season. When soaring
aloft, utters * a clear whistling call very closely resembling the cry of the
curlew — cur-lee-ee-ee 5 (G. G. Madoc, Malaya). Also likened to the screams
of the Serpent Eagle ( Spilornis ckeela).
breeding. From plains level to c . 1800 m. altitude, chiefly foothills
between 300 and 900 metres. Season , January to April : principally February
and March. Nest> the typical large platform of sticks and twigs, c. 1 metre
across and 35 cm. deep, with a shallow depression for the eggs, lined with
green leaves. Built high up in a forest tree. Egg , a singleton, indistinguishable
from that of 161. Average size of 16 eggs 69-8x51 *9 mm. (Baker). Share
of the sexes in the domestic chores, and incubation period, unrecorded.
Museum Diagnosis. Considered by some authors as a crestless race of S . cirrhatus ,
by others as a valid species (S. limnaeetus ) because of the apparent sympatry in parts
of Burma and Thailand. Its true position needs further study.
MEASUREMENTS
Wing
Bill
Tarsus
Tail
(from feathers)
<?9
400-438
39-41
100-103
240-267 nun.
(Baker)
COLOURS
OF BARE PARTS,
As in 161.
161. Indian Crested Hawk-Eagle* Spizaetus cirrhatus cirrhatus (Gmelin)
Falco cirrhatus Gmelin, 1788, Syst. Nat., ed. 13, 1 (1): 275 (Ceylon)
Baker, FBI No. 1756, Vol. 5: 85
Plate 15, fig. 4, facing p. 272
local names. Shah haaz (Hindi); Jutu bhyri , Namli pvri gdddd (Tdugu); Mot
haaz (Gujarat).
size. Kite +; length c . 72 cm. (c. 29 in,).
HAWKS, VULTURES, ETC. 263
field characters . A comparatively slender, crested forest eagle,
normally brown above white below, with narrow black longitudinal streaks
on throat, and broad chocolate streaks on breast. The prominent crest of a
few long black feathers sticking out from hindcrown, and long slender but
powerful feathered legs, are diagnostic. Sexes alike; female larger.
x c. i
In overhead flight, the short, broad, rounded wings (upturned near tip),
longish tail, white body (lightly or heavily spotted) are leading pointers
to the adult.
Young (immature). Head buffy or brownish white; the long black crest
feathers with whitish apical edges. Tips of greater wing-coverts largely buffy
white. Underparts uniform buffy white with faint, sparse, fine shaft streaks
on breast.
status, distribution and habitat. Fairly common in well- wooded tracts
throughout peninsular India roughly south of the range of S . n. nipalensis
(No. 158), and in Ceylon. Its northern limit is fairly indicated by a line
drawn from Mount Abu (Rajasthan) to Etawah (U.P.) and thence through
Sherghati (Bihar) to Calcutta (Hume, SF, 3: 446). Affects deciduous and
semi-evergreen forest biotope.
ExtralimitaL Burma (Myitkyina dist.), SE. Thailand — probably strag-
gler.
general habits. Keeps to open forest &nd the neighbourhood of out-
lying forest villages and cultivation. Perches bolt upright on a horizontal
bough up in the foliage canopy of a high tree overlooking a glade or clearing,
not so much hidden by the leaves as backed and camouflaged by them.
The bird thus remains surprisingly unnoticed till it flies out on the observer’s
approach to settle in another tree some distance away with a graceful
upward sweep into the branches. From such ambush it surveys the surround-
ings for any small animal venturing into the open, pouncing on it with a
whirlwind rush, smothering it with its wings, and bearing it away in its
powerful talons. Perhaps less given to soaring than many other raptors
except during the breeding season when pairs — even single birds (male?)
— > indulge in noisy aerial displays, zooming up vertically and nose-diving,
or stooping at each other at lightning speed, sometimes doing a complete
looping-the-loop turn in the air.
264 FALCONIFORMES
food. Hares, young peafowl, junglefowl, partridges, bush quails, squir-
rels, field rats, lizards, etc. Very destructive to domestic poultry around
forest villages.
voice and calls. A loud high-pitched cry Ki~ki-ki-ki-ki~ki-ki~ki-ki-kee,
commencing short, rising in crescendo, and ending in a long-drawn scream.
Mostly heard during the breeding season, from perch as well as from air.
Also alleged, with some degree of plausibility, to be the enigmatical ‘ Devil
Bird * which sometimes utters the weird nocturnal cries — a wailing hoo-hoo
immediately preceded by a * harsh cough ’ — as of a woman being strangled
(JBNHS, 1925, 30; 914-15). Final confirmation of identity is lacking.
breeding. Season , in peninsular India overall November to April,
chiefly January and February; in Ceylon continuing till June. Nest , a large
platform of sticks and twigs, c. 95 cm. across and some 45 cm, thick with
a central depression lined with fresh green leaves kept renovated (by c? ?)
during incubation. Built between 12 and 30 metres up in a tall Ficus,
Bassia , Dipterocarpus , Albizzia or similar tree generally on a Tiillside or edge
of a ravine and commanding a wide view. Egg , a singleton, white, feebly
speckled and blotched with light reddish at the larger end; sometimes
sparingly all over. Average size c . 64-0 x 50-5 mm. Ceylon eggs generally
smaller. Both sexes share in building the nest, but apparently female alone
incubates. Incubation period undetermined ; in one case calculated as over
40 days (Phillips).
Museum Diagnosis. As for the genus. The species differs from S. nipalensis (158)
by the feathering of the tarsus terminating just above the toes, not extending down
to their base. Resemblance between immaturcs of the two species particularly
striking. Ceylon and S. Indian birds are smaller but otherwise identical with the
peninsular population. Size difference clinal, not meriting racial separation as
hitherto done. For plumage and other details see Baker, loc. cit.
MEASUREMENTS
Wing Bill Tarsus Tail
(from skull)
tfc? ad. 351-442 35-44 90-106 229-285 mm.
9 p ad. 353-462 37-46 96-106 266-300 mm.
(SA)
colours of bare PARTS. Adult. Iris pale khaki to bright orange-yellow
varying with age. Bill horny black j^pere greyish to greenish brown. Gape and eyelids
greyish green. Feet lemon-yellow; claws horny black.
Downy nestling. Iris greyish brown. Bill horny black; cere and bare skin
in front of and around eyes slaty grey; gape greenish grey; mouth pink. Feet pale
greenish grey; claws horny black.
Chick (in down, c . fortnight old). Prcpennae and preplumulae white* A
thick rudimentary tuft of white down at nape where crest in adult. Brown primaries
sprouting; also bastard wing quills, secondaries, upper wing-coverts, dark brown
scapulars, upper tail-coverts and rectrices. A central (spinal) tract of brown feathers
down back of neck to midway between the scapulars, and two tracts of fulvous
brown feathers on either side of breast.
miscellaneous. A downy nestling being hand-reared dtank water
regularly — avidly and copiously — which shows the obvious need for it and
poses the question: How do eagles carry water to their nest-young, as they
must surely do?
HAWKS, VULTURES, ETC. 265
162. Andamans Crested Hawk-Eagle. Spizaetus cirrhatus andamancnsis
Tytlcr ^
Spizattus Andamanensis Tytler, 1865, Proc. Asiat. Soc. Bengal: 112
(Port Blair, S. Andaman Island)
Baker, FBI No. 1759, Voi. 5: 88
local name. Arungadda (Andamans, near Port Blair).
size. Kite; length c. 61 cm. (24 in.).
field characters. Smaller even than Ceylon examples of Indian
Crested Hawk-Eagle (No. 161) and with a markedly shorter crest; otherwise
quite similar.
status, distribution and habitat. Rather rare resident. Race endemic
to the Andaman group of islands. (Nicobars?). Generally keeps to outskirts
of forest near open places (Davison).
Oeneral habits. Nothing specifically recorded as different from the
Indian bird.
food. Frequently takes a chicken or pigeon close to a bungalow. One
observed to capture a Myna ( Acridotheres tristis ), and another devouring
a Koel ( Eudynamys ) — A. L. Butler.
voice. Unrecorded.
breeding. The only nest known was found by B. B. Osmastori at Haddo,
near Port Blair, containing a single egg on 21 January. It was the typical
twig structure c. 10 metres up in a teak tree, lined with green jamun {Eugenia)
leaves. Egg , as of the peninsular race (161), measuring 62*2 X 50*1 mm.
Museum Diagnosis. Size smaller than S . c. cirrhatus ; length of crest intermediate
between it and .S', (r.) Umnaeetus (160).
measurements. Wing 1 c? 355, 1 9 377 (Amadon, loc. cit.).
A sexed in the British Museum collection has wing 375, and a sexed 9 366 mm. ;
bill from feathers 38 and 37 mm. respectively (Baker).
COLOURS OF BARE PARTS. As in 161.
Genus hieraaetus Kaup
Hieraaetus Kaup, 1844, Classif. Saugeth. u. Vng. : 120, Type, by original designa-
tion, Falco penrnta Gmelin
Like Spizaetus contains hawk-eagles which differ from true eagles (c.g. Aquila) in
their lighter and slenderer build, smaller bills, longer and slenderer tarsi, and
proportionately longer tails. Most species have a phase of plumage in which the
underparts are partly or wholly white. The emarginations of the primaries are
generally much deeper than in the genus Aquila .
Bill moderately strong, much hooked at the end and with a prominent festoon
to upper mandible. Nostrils elliptical and oblique. Tarsi feathered to the toes.
Toes long: outer toe somewhat longer than inner. Claw's sharp and well curved:
inner and hind claw both large, the latter larger. Wing long: 4th primary (as.)
longest, exceeding secondaries by more than length of tarsus. Tail nearly square,
equal to more than half the length of wing,
Genus represented in Europe, Asia, Africa, and Australia, Two species occur in
India.
Key to the Species
Larger; wing over 480 mm M. fasciaUis
Smaller; wing under 450 mm H \ pennatus
266 FALCONIFORMES
163. Bonglli’s or Slender Hawk-Eagle. Hieraaetus fasciatus fasciatus
(Vieillot)
Aquilafasciata Vieillot, 1822, M&n. Soc. Linn. Paris, 2(2): 152 (Montpellier, France)
Baker, FBI No. 1752, Vol. 5: 77
Plate 17, fig, 5, facing p. 320
local names, Morangi (Hindi); Krndeli salawa (Telugn); Rajali (Tamil).
Crestlcss Hawk-Eagle of Jerdon.
size. Kite 4~; length c . 68-72 cm. (27-29 in.).
field characters. A comparatively slender but powerful uncrested
raptor with a proportionately longer tail than in true eagles, extending 5
to 8 cm. beyond tips of closed wings.
Adult. Above , dark umber-brown. Below , white to rufous-buff, streaked
with blackish. Tail dark grey above, whitish below with a broad black
subtcrminal band and several others narrower and ill-defined. Sexes alike;
female larger.
In overhead aspect the silvery white body, dark brown under wing-
coverts, finely grey-barred flight feathers, and broad black subtcrminal
band in the longish tail are suggestive pointers for the adult.
Young (immature). Above , paler brown, the feathers of head and nape
with still paler edges. Below , rufous or rufous-buff, streaked with blackish.
Tail narrowly barred and mottled; without the broad subterminal band.
Distinguished in flight from Tawny Eagle in comparable colour phase
by slenderer build, narrower wings and relatively longer square-ended tail.
status, distribution and habitat. Resident. Widespread but not
common. West Pakistan (Baluchistan, Sind, NWFP), India from Kashmir
and Punjab to W. Bengal. Assam ( ?) ; East Pakistan ( ?), and from c. 2400 m.
| Residential range
HAWKS, VULTURES, ETC. 267
in the Himalayas south to Kanyakumari; Nepal. Ceylon (rare vagrant;
once). Affects well wooded country, hill and plain.
Extralimital. Southern Europe south to N. Africa and east to southern
China (Peters).
general habits. A bold and active hunter, often killing mammals and
birds much heavier than itself. Either pounces on them from an ambush
up in a leafy tree like the Crested Hawk-Eagle, or strikes them by aerial
pursuit. The victim is killed by being gripped fiercely with both feet, the claws
dug deeply in. Frequently a pair will hunt in concert, one bird swooping at
and scattering a flock, e.g. of roost-bound crows, picking on an individual
thus isolated for determined chase and harrying — turning and twisting
after it, high and low — while its partner short-circuits the quarry by
off-side tactics, both birds then sharing the spoils. Though a dashing and
powerful hunter in the wild state it is considered disappointing from the
falconry point of view. Pairs frequently soar and circle aloft like most
raptors.
food. Mainly large birds and small mammals like hares. Recorded prey
includes myna, house crow, green pigeon, crow-pheasant, partridges, spur-
fowl, junglefowl, pheasant, florican, houbara bustard, pond heron, painted
stork, kite and other raptors. Wounded or disabled waterfowl as large as
Greylag goose (Anser anser) are frequently carried off with great audacity
from almost under the sportsman’s nose. Crows are at all times a favourite
food item. Occasionally becomes a scourge to domestic poultry including
young turkeys, and is particularly destructive to dovecot pigeons. Lizards
also taken, but it seldom if ever descends to carrion-eating.
voice and calls. Seldom heard. Described as a shrill creaking cry;
a chattering kie, hie , kikiki.
breeding. Season , principally December and January; sometimes a
couple of months later locally. Nest , a massive platform of sticks with a
central depression lined with fresh green leaves. Added to in successive
seasons, sometimes the pile assuming enormous thickness. In S. India (Kerala
and the Nilgiris) built most commonly on lofty trees ; elsewhere and in the
Himalayas chiefly on ledges of cliffs. Eggs , normally 2, broad ovals, white,
almost unmarked or faintly blotched with pale brown or reddish brown.
Average size of 46 Indian-taken eggs 69*1 x 53*4 mm. (Baker). Both
sexes share in nest-building, the male bringing large sticks and tangles of
branches in his feet, often with green leaves adhering, the female arranging
them. Incubation apparently by both, but mostly by female. Period un-
recorded. Nest-feeding by both parents, the male procuring the booty, the
female tearing it up and giving pieces to the small young.
Museum Diagnosis
MEASUREMENTS
Wing Bill Tarsus Tail
(from skull)
458-520 42-49 100-104 246-266 mm.
9 9 490-550 47-49 106-110 254-285 mm.
(SA)
colours op bare parts. Iris yellowish brown to orange-yellow. Bill bluish
grey at base, horny black distaliy; cere and gape pale sulphur-yellow. Feet pale
sulphur-yellow; claws horny brown.
268 FALCONIFORMES
164. Booted Hawk-Eagle. Hieraaetus pennatus (Grnelin)
Falco pennatus Gmelin, 1788, Syst. Nat,, 1(1): 272 (No type locality given)
Baker, FBI No. 1 753, Vol. 5 : 79
Plate 10, fig. 5, facing p. 192
local names. Baghati , Jumiz , Gilehri mar (Hindi); Vdatal gedda (Telugu) ; Punja
parandu , Rasali , Kaluga (Tamil); Rajaliya (Sinliala).
size. Kite — ; length c. 50-54 cm. (20-22 in.).
field characters. Superficially a smaller edition of Bonelli’s Hawk-
Eagle, also with long feathered tarsus. In two very distinct plumage phases:
(1) Light phase. Above , from pale buffy or rufous-white to umber-brown,
darkest (blackish) on the primaries. Top of head, nape, sides and back of
neck pale rufescent buff, the feathers with darker centres. Forehead and
lores buffy white; a narrow black streak running between the eyes and the
lores, and similar streaks both above and below the eyes. Below , buffy white
with blackish streaks, particularly on chin and upper breast. In overhead
aspect colour pattern of light phase reminiscent of dirty white Neophron
vulture with blackish band along trailing edges of wings.
(2) Dark phase. Above , brown with dark shaft-stripes, and whitish upper
tail-coverts. Below , either dark brown or pale rufous with blackish streaks
on breast. Tail greyish brown above, pale below, banded and tipped paler.
Sexes alike; female larger.
Young (immature). More or less like (2) above. On the wing, dark and
immature phases very like immature Brahminy Kite, but the relatively
slenderer proportions and markedly longer and square-ended tail (contra
rounded) usually diagnostic. Often flies with Pariah Kites in urban localities
and is frequently mistaken for one ; also because of its kite-like flight. But
shape of tail, square-ended v. forked, establishes its identity.
status, distribution and habitat. Partly resident; chiefly winter
visitor (fairly common). Indian range practically as for Bonelli’s Eagle:
W. Pakistan (Baluchistan, Sind, NWFP), and all India from c . 2400 m.
in the Himalayas south through the Gangetic Plain and Deccan to Kanya-
kumari. Nepal; Ceylon (occasional in winter). Not specifically recorded
in Assam or E. Pakistan, but doubtless occurs. Affects well- wooded country,
hill and plain. Commonly also semi-desert with Dalbergia and other forest
plantations, and groves of trees around human habitations or within
cultivation.
ExtralimitaL ‘ Breeds in the Iberian Peninsula, S. France, SE. Europe
and S. Russia east to S. Transbaikalia, south to N. Africa and India. Winters
chiefly in India and NE. Africa 5 (Peters). Also Burma and Malay Peninsula.
general habits. The smallest of our ‘ stockinged ’ eagles. Though super-
ficially a miniature of Bonelli’s at rest, its flight is much more like a kite’s,
light and wavering, the bird constantly swerving in its course. Takes its
prey on the ground or in the air, either pouncing on it from an ambush or
chasing it on the wing like a falcon. Regularly hunts in couples (whence
known as Du bardddrdn = two brothers, in Iran), the birds stooping alter-
nately on the quarry till struck, then sharing the spoils. Collects in numbers
to roost at night in groves of large leafy trees. Invariably mobbed by crows
who evidently differentiate it readily from the Pariah Kites with whom it
may be associating.
HAWKS, VULTURES, ETC* 269
food. Small mammals, birds and reptiles. The following specifically
recorded: squirrel, rat, lark, pipit, barbet, chukor, bulbul, dove, pigeon,
domestic chicken. Often becomes a serious marauder of the poultry
yard.
voice and calls. ‘ A very harsh falcon-like cry klk-kik-kik oft repeated *
(A. E. Jones). Very noisy in the breeding season ‘ with a shrill piercing call *
(Donald), ‘ Series of calls like Himalayan Pied Woodpecker, louder, more
musical and varied.* * Striking whistling notes * while going through aerial
evolutions in breeding season (Whitehead).
Hieraattus pennatus
breeding. Breeds freely in NWFP. and the high Himalayas in Kashmir
Himachal Pradesh, Garhwal, etc. between 1800 and 3000 m. altitude
(Whitehead, Donald, Osmaston, Jones, and others). Possibly also nests
sparingly and locally in peninsular India, doubtfully recorded as such in
Salem in Madras State (Theobald), and circumstantially in Gujarat (SA).
Season , c. March to June in the Himalayas. Nest, a platform of sticks with a
central depression lined with fresh green leaves or pine or deodar needles.
Built high up (25-35 m.) in a lofty chenar, deodar or pine, or in a
tree growing out of a precipice. Eggs , normally 2, white or skim-milk
blue faintly and evenly stippled and blotched with pale rusty red. The
edges of the nests and ground underneath, even before the eggs hatch,
are often littered with feathers and remains of doves and other victims
of the eagles. Average size of 6 Indian-taken eggs 56*7 x 44-2 mm,
(Baker). Share of the sexes in the domestic chores, and incubation period,
unrecorded.
270
FALCONIFORMES
Museum Diagnosis
MEASUREMENTS
Wing
Bill
(from feathers)
Tarsus
Tail
d’df
370-412
31-33
(from skull)
61-64
188—192 nun.
(Baker)
99
385-423
34-36
65-69
204-225 nun.
<SA)
colours of bare parts. Iris brown. Bill bluish grey or pale blue with black tip;
cere and gape yellow. Feet dull yellow.
Genus Lophotriorchis Sharpe
Lopkotriorchis Sharpe, 1874, Cat. Bds. Brit. Mus., 1 : 255. Type, by monotypy, Astur
kicnerii E. Gcoffroy
Differs from Spizaetus , also with long occipital crest, in its longer wing and shorter
tail. Primaries exceeding secondaries by more than length of tarsus. Tarsus long,
powerful, fully feathered. Claws exceptionally long and curved; that of 3rd toe
exceeding length of culmen, excluding cere.
The genus contains one Indo-Malayan and one S. American species.
165. RufousbelUed Hawk-Eagle. Lophotriorchis kicnerii kienerii
(E. Geoffroy)
Astur Kienerii G. S. ( — E. Gcoffroy), 1835, Mag. Zool,, cl. 2, pL 35 (Himalayas)
Baker, FBI No. 1754, Vol. 5: 80
Plate 12, fig. 7, facing p. 224 and plate 15, fig. 1, facing p. 272
local names. None recorded.
size. Kite ±; length c. 53-61 cm. (21-24 in.).
field characters. A handsome slender eagle with a distinct occipital
crest as in 161, but shorter. Above , including crown, crest, and sides of head
glossy black. Below , chin, throat and upper breast white with long black
stripes. Rest of underparts deep rufous-chestnut, streaked with black on
abdomen and flanks. In flight a large pale brownish patch (secondaries) on
upper side of wing conspicuous. In overhead aspect the long wings and
comparatively short tail give it the look of a large falcon, but pale grey
underside of wings and tail, contrasting with white breast and rich fer-
ruginous abdomen, are diagnostic points. Sexes alike; female larger.
Young (immature). Above , brown, the feathers dark centred. A line
across forehead, and broad supercilium white. Tail dark brown, tipped
paler and broadly barred with grey. Below , white, sparsely streaked witti
black.
status, distribution and habitat. Resident. With a curiously discon-
tinuous Indo-Malayan distribution; Eastern Himalayas from (Nepal?),
Sikkim to E. Assam, Manipur, E. Pakistan; the Western Ghats strip in
south India from c. Goa and N. Mysore through Kerala, and Ceylon (all
zones). Absent in the intervening country. Affects evergreen and moist
deciduous forest biotope; occasionally lowlands (Ceylon), but chiefly foot-
HAWKS, VULTURES, ETC, 271
hills and up to c. 1500 m. altitude in the E. Himalayas, and to c. 1200 m.
in SW, India.
Extralimital. Burma, Thailand (?), Malay Peninsula.
general habits. A forest eagle, usually seen soaring or flying with
rapid falcon-like wing-beats above the tree-tops on forest-clad hillsides or
over wooded valleys. Or it may perch bolt upright and alert on a horizontal
bough up in the foliage canopy of some lofty tree overlooking a glade or
clearing, watching for prey venturing into the open. From this ambush it
pounces on its quarry, killing it on the ground, or striking in the air before
the victim has time to get properly under way by a thunderbolt stoop re-
miniscent of a peregrine falcon.
Lophotriorchis klenerii
food. Chiefly large birds and small mammals. Kaleej pheasants, jungle-
fowl, spuribwl, wood partridge, green pigeon, squirrel have been specifically
recorded. Destructive to domestic pigeons and poultry in forest habitations.
voice and calls. Variously described as 4 a plaintive scream not unlike
a kite’s * (Baker), * a piercing scream ’ (H. C. Smith) and ‘ a wild resounding
call ’ (H. Stevens). Normally silent.
breeding. Very little data concerning the northern population, and
apparently no nest ever taken. Better known in Kerala where it breeds at
elevations between 300 and 1200 m., principally 500 to 900. Season , c.
December to March. Nest, a large platform of sticks, some often with green
leaves still attached, the central depression lined with green leaves which
are frequently renewed during incubation. Built high Up (24-30 m.) in a
tall tree in dense forest. As with some other raptors it occasionally has two
nests at varying distances from each other, used in successive or alternate
seasons. Egg, a singleton, broad oval, white, almost unmarked or densely
272
FALCONIFORMES
blotched with pale reddish brown primary and lavender-grey secondary
markings. Average size of 19 eggs 61*2 X 48* 1 mm. (Baker). Share of sexes
in the domestic chores, and incubation period, unrecorded. The birds are
said to be fierce in defence of their nest and eggs.
Museum Diagnosis. Owing to inadequate comparative material it is uncertain
whether the populations in the north and south are identical, as presumed.
MEASUREMENTS
Wing
Bill
Tarsus
Tail
<?. 380
(from feathers)
c. 33-35
c. 76
<r. 204 mm.
9 9
405-433
35-37
79-82
228-242 mm.
(Baker)
colours of bare parts. Iris dark brown. Bill plumbeous grey, black at tip;
cere yellow. Legs and feet dull yellow.
Genus Aquila Brisson
Aquila Brisson, 1760, Orn., 1: 28, 419. Type, by tautonymy, Aquila Brisson Falco
chiysaetos Linnaeus
Large and powerful raptors. Bill strong, rather long and curved from the cere;
margins of upper mandible straight oi with a very slight festoon. Wings long; 4th
and 5th primaries (as.) longest; first primary generally more or less equal to 8th.
Tail moderate; slightly rounded or almost square- ended. Tarsus feathered to toes;
claws curved, Strong and sharp, the hind too and claw especially powerful.
The genus is found throughout Europe, Asia and N. America. Represented in our
area by six species.
Key to the Species
A Nostrils elliptical or ear-shaped, higher than broad 1
B Nostrils round, as high as broad .2
1 Claws very large; hind claw over 50 mm a
Claws moderate; hind claw under 50 mm b
a Base of tail white A. chrysaetos Guv.)
Base of tail not white A. chrysaetos (ad.)
b Wing c? under 530 mm., 9 under 575 mm I
Wing c? over 530 mm., 9 over 600 mm II
I Barring on tail faint or lacking A. rapax (ad.)
Barring on tail conspicuous A . rapax Guv.)
II Plumage deep brown; crown and nape tawny. . . .A. heliaca (ad.)
Plumage pale umber brown a 1
a 1 Underparts striated A * heliaca (juv.)
Underparts not striated a*
a 8 Edges of secondary wing-coverts narrowly tipped paJer or
not at all A. nipalensis (ad.)
Edges of secondary wing-coverts widely tipped paler. . . .
A . nipalensis (juv.)
2 Longest primary extending 70-80 mm. beyond seventh c
Longest primary extending 80- 90 mm. beyond seventh d
c Upperparts dark chocolate-brown, underparts streaked with
paler * d. clanga (ad.)
Page
273
273
276
276
274
274
278
278
279
PLATE 15
Lophotriorchis k. kiencru , Rufous bellied Hawk-Eagle (165). 2 Spilornis c. melanotis , Crested Serpent
agle (197). 3 Bubo n. nipahmi r, Forest Eagle-Owl (628). 4 Spizaetus c. cirrhatus , Crested Hawk- Eagle
,b l). 5 Icthyophaga i. ichthyaetus , Greyheaded Fishing Eagle (176).
HAWKS, VULTURES, ETC, 273
Page
Uppcrparts heavily spotted with white; underparts contrastingly
streaked with chocolate and pale rufous . A . clanga (juv.) 279
d Unspotted and unstreaked above and below
. A . pomarina (ad.) 281
Underparts narrowly streaked and upperparts faintly spotted ....
A. pomarina (juv.) 281
166. Himalayan Golden Eagle, Aquila chrysaetos daphmta Severtzov
Aquila daphanea Severtzov, 1888, Nouv. M£m. Soc. Imp. Nat. Moscou, 15 (livr. 5) :
190 (Russian Turkestan, Mongolia, Himalayas, Transbaikalia and Ala-shan
Mountains)
Baker, FBI No. 1746, Vol. 5: 68
Plate 14, fig. 7, facing p. 256
local names . Muridri (Cliainba) ; Dhungshoorish ( *=. * monal tiger* or monal
killer — Bashahr, Himachal Pradesh).
size. Vulture length c. 90-100 cm. ( c . 35-40 in.).
field characters. A very large and powerful eagle, deep chocolatc-
brown (almost black) with golden or tawny-rufous hindcrown, nape and
hindneck. Thighs, upper and under tail-coverts, and shoulders of wings
rufous-brown. Sexes alike; female larger.
In soaring overhead flight the broad wings, held in a wide open V slightly
above line of back (as in King Vulture and Black Eagle) and ending in
upturned widely splayed 4 fingers \ make it distinctive. Confusion possible
with adult Imperial Eagle (167) as when flying in high wind the
white bases of scapulars and back feathers may show up like the irregular
white marks on back of Imperial; but rufous-bufF feathers on hindcrown
and nape of Golden are usually suggestive of its identity. Also tail relatively
longer, and wings narrower than in Imperial.
Young (immature) . Glossy brownish black with tawny head and neck.
In flight a white moon-shaped patch in centre of wings both above and below
(bases of primaries), and white tail with broad blackish terminal band,
are revealing features. No confusion possible with young Imperial Eagle
which has a brown lineated plumage, much lighter below.
status, distribution and habitat. Resident. Baluchistan and the
Himalayas from W. Pakistan (NWF. Province) to eastern Assam (including
Nepal), from c . 1850 metres altitude to summer snowline, c. 3000-5500 m.
Affects desolate, rugged high mountain country with crags and precipices,
and sparse stunted vegetation. Unlikely to be found near any hill-station.
Extralimital. Turkestan and E. Persia to C. Asia, south to the Himalayas
(Peters).
genera*, habits. In its typical Himalayan habitat perhaps less un-
common than generally supposed. Pairs hold sway over enormous territories,
occupying them throughout the year for many years in succession — almost
traditionally. Flight direct and seemingly unhurried, with powerful wing-
beats and long glides. Method of hunting very falcon-like. Sometimes
chases its quarry with speed and determination, but usually stoops at it
from a height at terrific velocity, striking with the huge hindclaw and vir-
274
FALCONIFORMES
tually splitting open the largest prey. Pairs often hunt in concert, one bird
driving and harrying the quarry while its mate stoops from above and
strikes. Circles aloft singly or in pairs, and in breeding season indulges
in the spectacular stooping and nose-diving displays common to many of
its lesser relatives.
food. Mainly game birds and mammals, of which the following speci-
fically recorded: pigeon, chukor, snowcock, monal and other pheasants;
nest young fed predominantly on crows, chiefly Corvus macrorhynchos. Also
kills foxes, marmots, pine martens, hares, flying squirrels ( Petaurista spp.),
young bharal (Naemorhaedus) , and fawns of musk deer (Moschus). Occasion-
ally new-born lambs of domestic sheep and full-grown tahr ( Hmitragus ),
the latter attacked on the edge of a cliff and hurtled to its death below
(C. H. Donald). Hardly ever carrion.
voice and calls. Normally very silent. A thin shrill yelp as of a dog,
and 4 barking cries * have been described.
breeding. Season , principally January to March; somewhat later at
higher altitudes than at lower. Nest, a huge platform of sticks on a ledge of
a cliff, but more usually in a deodar, juniper or such-like tree overhanging
a steep precipice or growing out of a cliff-face in difficult and fearsome situa-
tions. Eggs , almost invariably 2, white, marked with fairly large blotches,
and freckles and spots of light reddish brown. One of the pair usually more
darkly marked, the pale one with very faint lavender secondary markings.
Average size of 10 Indian-taken eggs 77*1 X 61 *7 mm. (Baker). Share of
the sexes in the domestic chores and other details unrecorded in India. In
Europe incubation mostly by female; period in wild state estimated as c .
40 days (Witherby).
Museum Diagnosis. Primaries exceed secondaries by more than length of tarsus;
in closed wing reach to within 3 cm. of tail-tip. Nostril elliptical, higher than broad.
Hind claw much curved, enormous, over 63 cm. round curve ( vide Donald). For
detailed description of plumage and structure see Witherby 1939, 3: 41~2 for
nominate race, from which A. c. daphnnea differs only in being somewhat larger
and paler.
MEASUREMENTS
Wing Bill Tarsus Tail
(from feathers)
c? 630-655 53-56 89-95 315-335 mm.
9 9 660-700 58-60 95-105 350-365 mm.
(Baker)
colours of bare parts. Iris dark brown; eyelids yellow. Bill dark horn or
bluish horn, black at tip; cere yellow. Feet yellow; claws homy black.
167. Imperial Eagle. Aquila heliaca heliaca Savigny
Aquila heliaca Savigny, 1809, Descr. Egyptc, Ois., 82, pi. 12 (Upper Egypt)
Baker, FBI No. 1747, Vol. 5: 69
Plate 14, fig. 8, facing p. 256
local names. Jumiz , Bddd jumiz, Satangal (Hindi); Frus (Bengal).
&ZB. Vulture - ; length c . 81-90 cm. (32-35 in.).
HAWKS, VULTURES, ETC. 273
field characters. Adult, deep glossy blackish brown with paler
(tawny-buff to whitish) head and neck. Tail with mottled bands of grey
and brown, tipped whitish and with a broad blackish subterminal band.
Irregular white marks on back (scapulars). Vent and under tail-coverts
dull buff. Sexes alike; female larger.
Confusable with adult Golden Eagle, q.v., but head much paler. At one
stage of plumage — dark chocolate with golden whitish head — reminiscent
of colour pattern of immature Marsh Harrier. In flight the relatively shorter,
less protruding tail and broader wings (held in line with body not in flat
V above it) are suggestive pointers.
Young (immature). Above> light to dark brown, feathers of head and
nape with paler edges. Upper tail-coverts whitish. Tail light brown tipped
with fulvous, with pale bars towards base. Below , always conspicuously
paler and lineated or streaked, i.e. with lines of darker brown spots running
down entire underside.
Confusion of immature possible with adult Steppe and Tawny, but its
lineated or streaked underparts diagnostic.
status, distribution and habitat. Rare resident (?), but mainly
winter visitor. W. Pakistan (Baluchistan, Sind, NWFP), N. and NW. India
(Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Nepal) south to Gujarat (Kutch, Saurashtra).
How much further cast, and south uncertain due to records being vitiated
by confusion in field identifications. Affects open treeless country.
ExtralimitaL ‘ S. Europe from Hungary to S. Russia, thence eastward
to Lake Baikal; south to Greece, Cyprus, Asia Minor, N. India, and
China. South in winter to Sudan and Somaliland, India, and SE. China *
(Peters).
migration. Absent in the Himalayas (NWFP, Kashmir, Himachal
Pradesh, etc.) and the Indian plains between March and September.
Migration (evidently of this species) observed by C. H. Donald in Himachal
Pradesh on 9 November 1923; many birds flying steadily and purposefully
in single file c. 100 m. up, spaced out at a few minutes’ interval each, in an
ENE. to WSW. direction (JBNHS, 1924, 29: 1054).
general habits. A heavy sluggish eagle, normally seen perched for hours
on end on a stump or tree-top, or on the bare ground, in open semi-desert
or flat featureless country such as at the edge of the Rann of Kutch. Obtains
its food by pouncing on any small animal that may show itself in its vicinity,
but mostly by pirating — chasing other hawks and eagles (including Laggar
Falcon) and forcing them to surrender what they have hunted. Also very
largely a carrion eater, commonly seen at animal carcases and about
slaughter-houses and municipal refuse dumps. Flight slow and heavy like
a vulture’s.
food. Apart from carrion and miscellaneous booty procured by piracy,
occasionally kills rodents, reptiles and ground birds. Stomach of a specimen
taken in Kutch contained a freshly swallowed Russell’s Viper ( Vtpera
russetti) c. 36 cm. long, and remains of a Common Sandpiper ( Tringahypo -
leucos)> the latter doubtless pirated. Another held remains of two large Fat-
tailed lizards ( Uromastix kardwickii ).
voice and calls. Unrecorded in India. In Europe * a quicl^ barking
owk~owk«owk \
276 FALCON I FORMES
breeding. In view of past misidentifications, old breeding records not
completely trustworthy. The only two dependable ones, both from Punjab,
seem to be (1) from Hansi (February, Blewitt), (2) from near Jhelum
(April, Rattray) when the incubating females were shot and identified*
The nests were large compact masses of sticks and twigs built c. 6 and 9 m*
respectively up in trees. Eggs, 2 (?), generally broad ovals, dull white
scantily spotted and blotched with pale lavender-grey. Average size of
eight 'Indian* eggs 70*9 x 54*6 mm. (Baker). No other information
recorded.
Museum Diagnosis. As in No. 166, but toes somewhat shorter and hind daw
markedly so — under c. 63 mm. round curve (vide Donald).
measurements of Indian specimens
Wing
Bill
(from feathers)
Tarsus
Tail
575-600
c. 54-55
c. 91-95
253-270 mm.
99
605-630
c. 60-66
(from skull)
(Baker)
29 9 (Gujarat)
630-632
60-66
102-105
284-328 mm.
(SA)
A 9 shot in Kohat weighed 8 lb. ( » 3630 gm.) — Whitehead.
colours of bare parts. Iris: adult, hazel or brownish yellow; immature, duller
and browner. Eyeshade and eyelids yellow. Bill bluish horny, tipped blackish;
cere ydlow to greenish yellow. Legs and feet chrome-yellow ; claws black.
168. Tawny Eagle. Aquila rapax vindhiana Franklin
Aquila Vindhiana Franklin, 1831, Proc. zool. Soc. Lond. pt. 1: 114
(Vindhya Hills, central India)
Baker, FBI No. 1749, Vol. 5: 72
local names. Okaab , Ragar (Hindi); Dholva (Wagri); Bursawul (Yerkali);
Aldivd , Saldwd (Telugu) ; Ali (Tamil, for all eagles) ; Parmar (Sind) ; Deshi jummas
(Gujarat).
size. Pariah Kite +; length c . 63-71 cm. (r. 25-28 in.).
field characters. Our commonest and most widely distributed eagle
in the plains. A heavy and extremely variable-coloured raptor ranging from
dirty buff (almost whitish) to brownish black. Legs feathered down to toes.
Tail rounded like vulture’s but relatively longer. Wings long, reaching
almost to tail-tip when bird at rest. Sexes alike ; female larger.
In sailing flight wings held in line with body. Easily confused with the
migratory Steppe Eagle (No. 169, q.v.), especially when the two whitish
wing-bars of the latter are not conspicuous.
Whether, and to what extent, colour variability due to age is uncertain.
Juvenile plumages in this and other eagles impossible to study without good
series of fledged juveniles of properly identified parents actually collected
from nest. This is a poser for Indian ornithologists.
status, distribution and habitat. Resident. W. Pakistan (Baluchistan,
Sind, NWF. Province), and the drier parts of the entire Indian Union.
Recorded (once ?) from Nepal. Absent in Kerala, Assam, East Pakistan
HAWKS, VULTURES, ETC. 277
and Ceylon. Affects semi-desert and dry deciduous country, chiefly plains
and plateaux.
Extralimital, North central Burma; dry parts.
X c . J
general habits. Usually seen perched singly on a tree-top in the mids
of ploughed fields, fallow land, or low scrub jungle. Often on the outskirt
of villages at animal carcases or scavenging at refuse dumps in association
with vultures, kites, and crows, by the last of whom it is invariably chivvied.
Like most eagles, performs spectacular aerobatics in the breeding season
consisting of series of steep nose-dives and upsweeps. At crest of every wave,
just when reversing to vertical with wings closed, utters a harsh grating
kekeke . The display (by ?) often lasts for ten minutes or more at a time even
when no mate participating. Obtains its food largely by piracy, chasing with
speed and determination smaller hawks and falcons and bullying them into
surrendering their lawful prize. Rarely also hunts small mammals or disabled
birds. Has been observed to catch an unwounded Purple Coot ( Porphyrio )
and Florican (Sypheotides) . On account of this pirating habit it sometimes
becomes a nuisance to falconers, mistaking the jesses of a trained falcon for
captured prey and chasing it till lost to sight and unrecoverable. Indivi-
duals occasionally take to habitual chicken-lifting, especially when feeding
nest-young, and then become a serious menace to poultry keepers. Numbers
roost collectively in groves of leafy trees in company with other raptors,
e.g. Honey Buzzards.
food. Small mammals, birds, and reptiles, mostly robbed from kites
and other hawks; carrion and garbage. Among crop and stomach contents
the following identified: Short-tailed Bandicoot (Nesokia sp.), Gerbille
(Meriones), Grey Quail ( Coturnix), Bush Quail (Perdicula) ^
voice and calls. A variety of loud raucous cackles; a distinctive gut-
tural krn as ‘ war cry 9 while in pursuit; a harsh grating kekeke in display
flight. Fledged young in nest when hungry and calling for food utters loud
cheeps like a two-month-old chicken separated from its mother hen.
breeding. Season , overall November to March/April, varying locally.
Nest, a large platform of sticks and twigs, sometimes thinly lined with grass
and leaves. Built at or near the top of a babool ( Acacia arabica ), kandi
(Prosopiv spicigtra), sheesham (Datbergia sissoo ), peepul ( Ficus religiasa) or
similar tree, preferably standing by itself, often dose to a village. Eggs, 2
or 3, white or greyish white with a few reddish brown spots aid specks.
Average size of 80 eggs 66*0 X 52*8 mm. (Baker). Both sexes share in nest-
278 FALCOMIFORMES
building and feeding young; evidently female alone incubates and is a
close sitter. Incubation period unrecorded.
Museum Diagnosis. Usually distinguishable from Steppe Eagle (169) by some-
what smaller size and absence of the two whitish bars on upper side of wing (tips
of secondaries and greater coverts'). But in borderline cases there seems to be no
character by which the two can be told with certainty; hence considered conspecific
by some authorities.
Chick (in down). ‘ Prepennae and preplumulac present — white, sparse on
cere and round orbit, otherwise completely covering body. Freplumulae make up
the bulk of the down. Iris bluish brown; bill dull black; cere, gape and legs yellow’
(C. B. Ticehurst).
MEASUREMENTS
Wing
Bill
(from skull)
Tarsus
Tail
500-535
r. 48-51
80-87
£42-258 mm.
99
510-560
48-56
84-91
242-285 mm.
(Baker and SA)
colours of bare parts. Adult. Iris yellow-brown. Bill horny black, plumbeous
at base of lower mandible; cere and gape lemon-yellow. Feet yellow; claws black.
(One in very pale buff plumage had the cere ivory white.)
169. Eastern Steppe Eagle. Aquila nipalensis nipalensis (Hodgson)
Circaetus nipalensis Hodgson, 1833, Asiat. Res., 18(2): 13, pi. 1 (Nepal)
Baker, FBI No. 1748, Vol. 5: 70
Plate 14, fig. 5, facing p. 256
local names. Jumiz (Hindi) ; Cong au (Lepcha).
size. Kite-)-; c. 76-80 cm. (30-32 in.).
field characters. Very similar to the Tawny Eagle (168) and like it
variable in coloration, ranging from deep blackish brown to pale, almost
buffish brown; often with a rufous patch on nape. Usually two diagnostic
pale bars on upper as well as underside of wings formed by whitish tips of
secondaries and coverts. Connexion, if any, between colour phases and age
not properly understood.
status, distribution and habitat. Winter visitor. Common in W.
Pakistan, Nepal and N. India, wandering south at least to the Bombay
Deccan, east to S. Orissa (to c. 22°N. lat.). Said to occur uncommonly in
Assam. E. Pakistan (?). Affects open treeless country in its breeding range;
more or less the same biotope as Imperial and Tawny in its winter quarters.
ExtralimitaL 1 Breeds from the Altai to Mongolia and SE. Siberia, south
to NW. India and Himalayasf?]. Winters to India and S. China * (Peters).
migration. Donald shot one on a high pass in Bashahr (Himachal
Pradesh) in October where southward migration was in progress. The 1960
Indian Mt Everest Expedition found three large eagles lying dead on the
South Col c> 7925 m. (26,000 ft.) altitude on 23 May, which had obviously
perished while on passage over this difficult pass. One of these was brought
down to the Bombay Natural History Society and identified as this species.
Another eagle, possibly also Steppe, had been found dead in the same pass
HAWKS, VULTURES, ETC. 279
by a Swiss expedition in autumn 1952. The South Col would therefore
seem to lie on one of the regular routes of this eagle across the Himalayas
between its summer and winter habitats.
general habits. More closely resemble those of Imperial than of Tawny
which usually occupies a somewhat different ecological niche — more wooded
country. But the two often occur side by side in winter. Said to be more
active in its hunting than Imperial ; but living largely by piracy and carrion-'
eating.
food. As in 167. Nothing specifically different recorded.
voice and calls. Unrecorded.
breeding. Extralimital. Its alleged occasional breeding in India re-
quires confirmation by actually nesting specimens.
Museum Diagnosis. Nostrils elliptical or ear-shaped, higher than broad. Two
whitish bars on upperside of wings formed by pale tips to secondaries and greater
coverts. Hindclaw about same size as in Imperial (35-45 mm.) but foot smaller
and weaker. Considered by some authorities conspecific with A. rapax, q.v.
MEASUREMENTS
Wing
Bill
(from feathers)
Tarsus
Tail
510-595
50-56
85-89
250-290 mm.
99
602-625
56-58
—
(Baker)
Tarsus of specimens in BNHS collection 92-96; 4o? (84) 92-98 mm.
The South Col specimen (sex ?) measured: Wing 585; bill (from skull) 55;
tarsus 98; hindclaw 35; tail 290 mm.
Weight of one from Punjab 3060 gm. (Whistler).
colours of bare parts. Iris hazel to dark brown. Bill black ; cere deep yellow.
Legs and feet dull yellow or greenish yellow to bright yellow; claws black (Baker).
1 70. Greater Spotted Eagle. Aquila clanga Pallas
Aquila Clanga Pallas, 1811, Zoogr. Rosso- Asiat., 1 : 351 (Russia and Siberia)
Baker, FBI No. 1750, Vol. 5: 74
Plate 14, fig. 6, facing p. 256
local names. Kdljdngd (Hindi) ; Nall a gdddd (Telugu),
size. Kite-f ; length c , 64-72 cm. ( c . 25-28 in.).
field characters. A very dark eagle without whitish head seen in the
vicinity of a jheel is pretty certain to be an adult Greater Spotted.
Adult. Above, dark blackish brown with purplish or maroon reflections
on mantle. Usually a little white visible in upper tail-coverts, and sometimes
minute white specks on body and wings (due to white bases of feathers
showing through). 1 Below, slightly paler. Sexes alike; female larger.
In sailing flight wings held in line with body with the tips slightly
downcurved. Two pale bands visible on upper side of wings. But indistin-
guishable with certainty in the field from adult Lesser Spotted except when
upper tail-coverts are pure white; dingy white may apply to both species.
Young (immature). Above, dark blackish brown sometimes with paler
crown and nape due to buff tips to the feathers. Back and wings sparsely
280 FALCON I FORMES
streaked and spotted with buff or white. Rump pale brown; upper tail**
coverts whitish, showing up prominently in flight as a broad crescentic
patch above base of tail. Below, dark brown broadly streaked with buff.
Separable from immature Lesser Spotted Eagle (171) by darker colora-
tion with more pale spots and streaks on upperparts, and (usually) more
distinct white crescent above base of tail.
Many confusing intermediate colour phases between the above two,
presumably according to age.
status, distribution and habitat. Resident and breeding in W.
Pakistan (Baluchistan, Sind, Punjab) and N. India (Gangetic Plain).
Nepal (lowlands), east through Bihar, W. Bengal, and Assam. Manipur;
E. Pakistan. South to about 22°N. lat. (Khandesh, N. Gujarat, etc.). Wan*
dering south in the Peninsula in winter when population augmented by
influx of migrants. No recent records from the Carnatic and Malabar
coasts where a hundred years ago Jerdon (1862) described it as ‘ tolerably
common \ This change in status doubtless due, as noticeable even today,
to altering ecological conditions, natural or man-made, the Greater Spotted
— a predominantly water- and marsh-linked eagle — being particularly
vulnerable to draining and marsh reclamation, A specimen taken at Londa,
N. Mysore (15°31'N., 74°32'E., Koelz c . 1941), is perhaps the southernmost
recent record in the Peninsula. Absent in Ceylon. Restricted to well-watered
tracts; affects the neighbourhood of jheels, canals and marshes.
Extralimital. * Breeds in European Russia from lat. 60 Q N. south to the
Balkan States; east through Turkestan, S. Siberia and Transbaikalia to
Amurland, south to NW. India and N. China. Winters south to NE. Africa,
India and S. China ’ (Peters).
general habits. Keeps to well-wooded, well-watered tracts with per-
ennial rivers, canals, swamps, and jheels. Usually perched singly on a tree-top,
stump, or canal bank on the look-out for prey. Heavy movements
much resemble a buzzard’s. Flight less sluggish than Tawny Eagle’s, and
though largely a frog-eater it also actively hunts waterfowl such as coots
and moorhens. The usual method with coots is first to stampede a compact
herd floating on the water by swooping low over (‘ buzzing ’) it and scatter-
ing the birds. While some of the coots patter away and others dive, the eagle
repeats the attack again and again until it has managed to isolate one indi-
vidual. It stoops on the quarry repeatedly whenever it surfaces for breath,
and after maybe a number of unsuccessful assaults pounces on it like a
hurricane immediately the harassed bird breaks the surface again, and
leisurely bears it away in its talons.
food. The following items have been recorded: frogs (mainly), fish,
chameleon, Calotes lizard, Purple and Indian Moorhens ( Porphyria and
Gallimla ), Coot (Fulica), Tree Pie ( Dendrocitta vagabunda ), Kingfisher (Halcyon
smyrnensis) — complete head with bill in stomach! Frequently makes off
with wildfowl falling to a sportsman’s gun with great audacity.
voice and calls. A wild, clanging jeb i jeb , jeb (Pallas) frequently
uttered from a tree-top.
breeding. Season, mainly April to June, but may begin a month or two
earlier. Nest, the usual massive circular platform of sticks and twigs, the
central depression lined with a few leaves. Normally built at or near the
HAWKS, VULTURES, ETC. 281
top of a tree 10 to 15 metres up, standing by itself or in a dump in open
marshy or pasture land. Eggs } 1 or 2, broad ovals, white, sometimes faintly
freckled with reddish or blotched with grey or reddish grey. Average site
of 72 eggs (including European) 68 *3 x 54* 1 mm. (Baker). Share of die
sexes in the domestic chores, and incubation period, unrecorded.
Museum Diagnosis. Nostrils round; as high as broad. 7th primary (as.) usually
less than 6 cm. shorter than longest. Outer web markedly narrowed and steeply
notched near tip. For description of plumages etc. see Witherby 1939, 3: 45-6.
MEASUREMENTS
Wing Bill Tarsus Tail
(from feathers)
€?»<?• 486-501 45-50 103-106 240-260 mm.
9 9 542-565 48-52 — 250-276 mm.
(Baker)
It is uncertain whether extralimiial birds are included above. Specimens recently
collected in India measure:
(from skull)
2 <?<J» 485-500 47-53 85(1) 227-242 mm.
4 9 9 514-545 52-55 90-110 242-272 mm.
(SA)
colours of bare parts. Iris brown. Bill slaty blue, black at tip of both mandibles*
paler or greenish yellow near gape ; cere greenish sulphur-yellow. Feet dull sulphur-
yellow; claws black.
171. Lesser Spotted Eagle. Aquila pornarina hastata (Lesson)
Morphnus hastatus Lesson, 1834, in Belanger, Voy. Ind.-Orient., Zool.; 217 (Bengal)
Baker, FBI No. 1751, Vol. 5: 75
local names. GiUimar ( ‘ cocoon destroyer ' in Bengal) ; Pahdri teesa (Hindi) ;
* Longlegged Eagle * of Jerdon.
size. Kite; length c. 61-66 cm. (24-26 in.).
field characters. A large blackish brown or dark chocolate-brown
eagle.
Adult. Slightly smaller but indistinguishable in the field with certainty
from Greater Spotted (170). Both may have dingy white upper tail-coverts,
but Lesser never has them pure white as is diagnostic of typical examples of
A . clanga * Difference in ecology usually a more dependable guide. Greater
Spotted never met away from water ; Lesser normally in open wooded country.
Young (immature). Separable from immature Greater Spotted (170)
by somewhat less dark coloration, with the paler spots and streaks on upper
plumage smaller and fewer.
Also found in many puzzling intermediate colour stages.
status, distribution and habitat. Resident. The wide range given for
it in the Fauna and Synopsis appears unwarranted. Not found in W. Pakistan ;
rare on the western side of the Peninsula south to Bombay, as it also is
in Saurashtra. In feet comparatively rare wherever it occurs, viz. chiefly
the Gangetic Plain cast through Bihar, W. Bengal and E. Pakistan
(least uncommon) ; south to Madhya Pradesh and Orissa. How much further
FALCONIFORMES
282
south is uncertain since not obtained by the recent scientific bird surveys
in Andhra, Madras, Mysore or Kerala, Absent in Ceylon. There is an old
specimen from Kotagiri, Nilgiri Hills, from the Hume Collection in the
British Museum, and another recorded as shot off a nest in Mysore by J.
Davidson some 70 years ago. In Assam it occurs {vide Baker) north and south
of the Brahmaputra river, and also in Manipur. Affects wooded country,
chiefly plains, with open expanses and cultivation, contra the Greater Spotted
which is restricted to the neighbourhood of jheels and marshes ; to confound
the observer, however, it is sometimes also found side by side with the
latter!
Eagles arc notoriously difficult birds to identify in the field, and often
even in the hand, without experience and adequate comparative material.
There has undoubtedly been a great deal of confusion in their identification
and distributions in the past, which partly persists today. Therefore all
records unsupported by specimens, except in the case of very common and
well marked species, must be treated with caution.
ExtralimitaL N. Burma (needs confirmation).
general habits. Not markedly different from A. clanga (170) except
that it is not so narrowly dependent on jheels and marshes. A courtship
display of nose-dives and upsweeps — of a pattern common to many
raptorial birds, e.g. Tawny Eagle q.v., has been described for the nominate
race in Europe (H. Sicwert 1932, Jour. Orn . : 9-10). Prey is largely captured
on the ground while the bird saunters about in the open in its search, bill
pointing intently downward. It is seized in the claws.
food. Frogs, lizards, young or weakling birds, field rats and mice, etc.
Apparently silkworm pupae from cocoons largely eaten in Bengal. Has
been observed purposefully tearing open the globular nests of Pied Mynas
(Stumus contra) to get at the young. Often lives by piracy, chasing and bully-
ing Pariah Kites into jettisoning their lawful prize.
voice and calls. ‘ A very high-pitched cackling laugh * (Baker). Nothing
else specifically recorded.
breeding. Season , April to July, the majority of birds apparently laying
in May. Nest, a large platform of sticks and twigs, some with leaves attached
— of the typical eagle pattern. Built between c . 10 and 25 m. up in a large
tree — simul (< Salmalia ), sal ( Shorea ), mango ( Mangifera ), peepul {Ficus ) , and
such-like — either standing by itself or one of a clump in cultivated country,
often near a village. Eggs, normally 1, sometimes 2, rarely 3. Similar to those
of A . clanga (170) but readily distinguished by smaller size and richer
marking; also resembling Tawny Eagle’s, q.v. Average size of 22 eggs
63*8 x 49-8 mm. (Baker). Both sexes share in the domestic chores; the
male chiefly collecting material and foraging, the female building the nest
and feeding the young. Incubation by female alone; period c . 42-44 days
(in nominate race vide Sicwert). Circumstantial evidence (as yet unproven)
that if disturbed at nest, e.g. by man climbing up, the bird will transfer its
eggs to an alternative old nest in the vicinity.
Museum Diagnosis. As in A. clanga nostrils round ; as high as broad. Differs
from it by smaller size and slenderer bill, less high at base. 7th primary (as.) usually
more than 6 cm. shorter than longest, with its outer web only slightly narrowed
and notched near tip, contra in A . clanga, q.v.
283
HAWKS, VULTURES, ETC*
It) the race hastata adult similar to nominate pomarina though somewhat slimmer:
crown and upper wing-coverts same colour as back; underside with distinct dark
shall stripes. Immature* of the two readily separable. In hastata crown and nape
feathers only tipped with rufous (not streaked) ; likewise lesser wing-coverts. Upper
tail-coverts distinctly cross-barred (Hartert),
MEASUREMENTS
Wing Bill Tarsus Tail
(from feathers)
cJitf 470- 505 40-43 100-104 230-248 mm.
9 9 * 493- 508 48 52 — — mm.
(Baker)
colours or bare parts. Iris brown. Bill slaty blue, black at tip of both mandibles;
cere and gape yellow. Feet dull yellow ; claws black.
Genus Ictinaetus Blyth
Ictinaetus Blyth, 1843, Jour. Asiat. Soc. Bengal, 12: 128. Type, bymonotypy, Ictinaetus
ovivorus Blyth ~ Agitila perntgra Hodgson
Tarsi feathered to toes. Shape of foot peculiar and diagnostic. Outer toe and claw
very small. The other toes also short, inner toe stouter, but nearly equal in length
to middle toe. Claws less strongly curved than
in other genera of eagles. Inner claw longest,
longer even than hind claw. Bill rather small;
edge of upper mandible almost straight. Nostrils
broadly oval and oblique. Wing long; 5th or
6th primary (as.) longest; first primary a little
longer than secondaries. Tail long, somewhat
rounded.
The genus contains a single Indo-Malayan
species.
x c. i
172. Black Eagle. Ictinaetus malayetuis perniger (Hodgson)
Aquila Pernigra Hodgson, 1836, Jour. Asiat. Soc. Bengal, 5: 227 (Nepal)
Baker, FB^ No. 1755, Vol. 5: 83
Plate 17, fig. 6, facing p. 320
local names. Laknangbatig (Lepcha) ; Hugang (Nepal) ; Addvi ndlla gdddd (Telugu) ;
KdthUgd (Tamil); Darting gashim (Cachari); Karimparundu (Malayalam).
size. Kite +; lengths. 69--81 cm. (27-32 in.).
field characters. A large black eagle, with wings reaching to end of
tail at rest, Superficially confusable with melanistic form of Changeable
284
FALCONIFORMES
Hawk-Eagle (160), but its much broader wings are a leading clue. Mostly
seen in flight when black plumage, narrowly grey-barred tail — longer than
most eagles’ — and bright yellow cere and feet are diagnostic. Wings very
long and broad with rounded tip and exceptionally widely splayed and
upturned primaries. Sexes alike ; female larger.
At a distance, in sailing flight, outlines reminiscent of Golden Eagle —
broad wings held in a wide V above line of back. When overhead a pale
patch on dark underside of wings conspicuous, as also is, at close range,
a white patch under the eye.
Young (immature). Above, paler brown stippled with buffy brown on
head, nape, and neck. Upper tail-coverts fringed with white. Below , throat
and breast with oval drops of fulvous-brown. Abdomen and flanks dark-
streaked.
status, distribution and habitat. Resident. Widely but patchily
distributed in evergreen and moist deciduous forest biotope; foothills and
up to c . 2700 metres altitude in the Himalayas, and c. 2000 m. in the penin-
sular hills. From W. Pakistan (Murree, Rawalpindi dist.), through Himachal
Pradesh and Nepal to E. Assam, E. Pakistan (?), W. Bengal, Orissa, E.
Ghats in Andhra and Madras (including Shevaroy Hills), Madhya Pradesh
(Hoshangabad and Bastar dists.). Ceylon and the W. Ghats strip from
Kanyakumari northward at least to Goa and N. Mysore (including the
Nilgiri and Palni Hills). Well documented sight records from Gujarat
(Jambughoda, c. 22°26'N., 73°48'E.) and from within a 50 km. radius
of Bombay City.
ExtralimitaL Burma (Chin Hills and Tenasscrim), T^^^d* Malay
Peninsula. The somewhat smaller nominate race occurs in Java, Sumatra,
Borneo, Celebes, and Sula Islands.
general habits. Partial to hill forest. Usually seen in pairs sailing grace-
fully and effortlessly on the enormous outspread wings within a foot or two
above the forest canopy or gliding expertly in and out among the boles
and foliage of the lofty trees, side-slipping and diving to avoid
obstructions. The exceptionally widely splayed and upturned primaries
function as ailerons and enable sailing at very low air speeds over and
through the tree-tops while methodically searching for birds’ nests — eggs
and nestling birds forming an important part of its dietary. It has been
observed flying off with entire nests of small birds in its claws examining the
contents while sailing lazily away. The peculiar foot is believed to have
some adaptive significance for nest robbing. Nearer the ground its hunting
is very much like a harrier’s — sailing on motionless wings up and down
along the contours of a grassy hillside, peering intently below for movement,
checking suddenly and turning upon itself when opportunity offers, and
dropping into the grass to seize the quarry.
In the breeding season pairs indulge in impressive aerial displays, plunging
with wings held down and forward, circling round each other and mutually
stooping with wings folded to tail-tip, at astounding velocity. These man-
oeuvres are accompanied by shrill yelping cries,
food. Large insects, frogs, lizards, rodents, birds — sometimes reportedly
kills junglefowl and pheasants. But chiefly birds’ eggs and nestlings. Among
crop and stomach contents specifically recorded are: nestlings and incubated
HAWKS, VULTURES, ETC, W
eggs of Garrulax spp., eggs of Perdicula erytkrorhyncha^ Turdoides spp., Strtpto-
pelia spp*, small bats (sp. ?} and in one case ‘six or more young field mice \
voice and gauls. Normally silent* Apart from the shrill yelping cries
uttered during aerial display, nothing recorded*
breeding. Season , mainly November to March'in South India ; apparently
between January and April in the north. Curiously enough nesting not
yet recorded in Ceylon. JVart, a rather neat and compact platform of sticks
and twigs lined with green leaves. Built high up in a lofty tree in evergreen
hill forest between c. 300 and 1 200 metres altitude, usually hidden by the
foliage. As in several other eagles, e.g. Lophotriorchis (165), sometimes has
two alternate nests, a short distance from each other, repaired and used
irregularly in successive years. Eggs , normally a singleton, very rarely 2,
broad oval in shape, handsome and variable in coloration. Most commonly
whitish or pinkish in ground colour, finely and densely stippled with pale
brick-red. Average size of 22 eggs 62*7 X 49 • 9 mm. (Baker) . Although
usually keeping in pairs and seemingly paired for life, if one bird is killed
die survivor secures a new mate within a surprisingly short time. Share
of the sexes in the nesting activities, period of incubation and other details
unrecorded.
Museum Diagnosis. As for the genus. A whitish area, including upper throat,
from base of bill to around eyes and behind ear-coverts. Chin and gular stripe black.
MEASUREMENTS
Wing Bill Tarsus Tail
(from feathers)
520-523 37-38 69-73 285-312 mm.
9 9 538-568 — — (Baker)
It is clear that Baker's measurements (above) refer only to the smaller South
Indian and/or Ceylon birds. Specimens from Ceylon in the British Museum give:
2 d'd 1
Wing
543, 547
Bill
from feathers
40, 40*5
from cere
30, 30
Tail
303, 307 mm.
1 9
558
43
33
312 mm.
2 0 ?
522, 538
39, 40-5
28-5, 30
295 (l)mm.
(Biswas)
As against this 4 specimens recently collected by Biswas in Nepal measure:
3
563-580
(from skull)
40-43
_
315-326 mm.
1 9
600
46
—
350 mm*
and 4 specimens from Sikkim Himalayas measured by H. Stevens:
2 cJ 1 <? 572-576 mm.
2 9 9 580-585 mm.
golours OF bare parts. Iris dark brown. Bill greenish- or plumbeous-homy
with black tip; cere and gape yellow. Legs yellow; claws black.
Genus Haliaeetus Savigny
Halitmtus Savigny, 1809, Descr. Egypte, Ois. , 1 : 68, 85. Type, by monotypy, Haliasetus
nisus Savigny — Falco albicilla Linnaeus
Bill stout; culmen straight at base, then greatly curved; festoon generally well
marked but variable* Nostrils rounded. Wings very broad; primaries comparatively
286 FALCONIFORMES
little longer than secondaries. 3rd primary (as.) longest; 4th and 5th only slightly
shorter. Tail rounded or wedge-shaped. Tarsus stout, moderately long; 1/8 to |
feathered in front; rest scutellated in front and on toes, reticulated elsewhere. Claws
grooved underneath.
Genus almost cosmopolitan but absent in S. America. Three species in the Oriental
Region.
Key to the Speclee
Page
A Tail all white H. albicilla (ad.) 286
B Tail brown with white end //. leucogaster (ad.) 287
C Tail brown with a white cross-band H. leucoryphus (ad.) 289
D Tail variegated and mottled brown and white 1
1 Head nearly alwavs lighter than back H, leucogaster (juv.) 287
Head and back similar in colour a
a Feathers of breast lanceolate but no ruff H. albicilla (juv.) 286
Feathers of breast lanceolate with distinct ruff :
//. leucoryphus (juv.) 289
1 72a. Whitetailed Sea Eagle. Haliaeetus albicilla (Linnaeus)
Falco albicilla Linnaeus, 1758, Sv*t. Nat., ed. 10, 1 : 89 (Sweden)
Baker, FBI No. 1777, Vol. 5: 110
local names. None recorded.
size. Kite + ; length c, 69-86 cm. (27-34 in.).
field characters. A huge dark brown eagle with paler (whitish) head,
neck and upper breast, and shortish distinctive white wedge-shaped tail.
Sexes alike; female larger.
In overhead aspect the very broad wings, and comparatively short tail
give a vulture-like appearance, but shape and colour of tail diagnostic.
Young (immature). Variable dark brown. Pale fulvous bases of feathers
showing through, especially on underparts which look fulvous broadly
streaked with dark brown. Tail mottled and edged with brown.
status, distribution and habitat. Rare casual winter visitor to West
Pakistan (Baluchistan, Sind, NWF. Province). Only a single reliable record
in India — from Punjab (Kulu, Donald). Essentially a sea eagle, but
wandering from the coast up large rivers and to jheels and inundations
inland.
Extralimital. * Breeds in Greenland, Iceland, northern British Isles
(formerly), N. Europe and Asia east to Anadyr and Kamchatka south to
the eastern Mediterranean (formerly Egypt and the Red Sea), Iraq, Iran,
and Japan. Casually or in winter to N. Africa, NW. India, S. China and
Aleutian Islands ’ (Peters).
general habits. Sluggish. Will sit hunched up and inert for hours to-
gether on a stump or on ground at edge of water. Lives largely on fish which
is scooped up in its talons from near the surface while sailing close above
water; only rarely by plunging. But will also take duck and small mammals
on occasion; and carrion. One has been recorded frequenting a rubbish
dump near Quetta Cantonment.
HAWKS, VULTURES, ETC. 2t7
voice and calls. Unrecorded in India*
breeding. Extralimital.
Museum Diagnosis. Feathers of hindneck and breast Jong lanceolate, but not
forming a ruff as in H. kucoryphus. Upper tail- coverts very long and broad. For
details Of plumages, structure, etc. see Witherby 1939, 3: 93-5.
MEAIUREMENTS
Wing
Bill
Tarsus
Tail
593-632
(from feathers)
c, 61
m
s©
v»
285-325 mm.
99
640-686
c. 65
—
318-352 mm.
(Baker)
colours op bark parts. Iris, adult yellow, imm. brown. Bill and cere yellow ;
more brown in young birds, and quite blackish brown in the youngest. Feet yellow
(Baker).
173. Whitebellied Sea Eagle. Haliaeetus leucogaster (Gmelin)
Falco leucogaster Gmelin, 1788, Syst. Nat., 1(1): 257
(Prince’s Island, Indonesia, designated by Stresemann, 1950, Auk, 67: 82)
Baker, FBI No. 1778, Vol. 5: 1 11
Plate 14, fig. 2, facing p. 256
local names. Kohassa (Hindi) ; Samp mar (in Orissa) ; Ala gdddd (Telugu) ; Kddal
Mi (Tamil); Muhudu rajaliya (Sinhala); Kdnkan (Kanara and Konkan); Muttayeya
(in Car Nicobar). Grey backed Sea Eagle ofjerdon.
size. Kitc-f ; length c. 66-71 cm. (26-28 in.).
field characters. A large, handsome eagle, ashy brown above with
pure white head, neck, under parts, and terminal third of tail. Sexes alike;
female larger.
In overhead aspect the broad blackish border on trailing edge of white
underwing, and white wedge-shaped tail, are diagnostic features. In sailing
flight wings held in a wide V above line of back. At rest, closed wings reach
end of tail or a little beyond.
Young (immature). Dark brown with head and neck fulvous (almost
whitish). Wedge-shaped tail white or whitish, with the terminal portion
brown but pale tipped. Upper breast brown; rest of underparts fulvous or
rufous-white, mixed with brown.
status, distribution and habitat. Resident. The seaboard and offshore
islands from about the latitude of Bombay ( c . 19°N.) down the west coast
and up the east to E. Pakistan. Laccadive Is., Ceylon, Andaman and Nicobar
Islands. Affects sea coast, and tidal creeks and estuaries. Occasionally met
a few miles inland along tidal rivers and at freshwater lakes. A vagrant
in Gujarat, one recorded near Ahmedabad c. 80 km. inland from sea coast,
and another at the mouth of Shatrunji river, Saurashtra.
ExtralimitaL Coasts of Burma, Malay Peninsula and Archipelago east
to Australia, Tasmania and W. Polynesia (Peters).
general habits. Usually seen in pairs or singly, perched upright on a
fishing stake or islanded rock or tall tree overlooking the sea, or sailing
majestically along the shoreline beyond the surf zone. From a height of
268 FALCON I FORMES
15 or 20 metres* with wings pulled in, a bird will stoop at tremendous speed
and cleanly pick up in its stride a sea snake or fish from near the suriace,
its feet seeming hardly to touch the water before it deftly rises again with die
quarry dangling from its talons* It is carried to a favourite branch or rock
— bestrewn with bones of sea snakes and fish and whitened with evidences
of numerous past meals — and tom to pieces and devoured. Does not plunge
for fish like osprey. In the non-breeding season the old nest frequently
serves as dining table, larder, and refuse dump, the leavings providing an
excellent index to the ornithologist of the food items and their abundance
at any particular time and place. In courtship, pairs indulge in the same
pattern of aerobatics common to many birds of prey — stooping playfully,
somersaulting, side-slipping, looping-the-loop and similar antics. Pairs
keep together throughout the year, and roost on or near the traditional
nest tree.
food. Predominantly sea snakes (Hydrophiinae) ; largely also fish, some
of considerable size. Reported to take crabs, rats, and any living thing it
can catch, besides dead fish cast overboard from fishing boats. When feeding
nest-young occasionally becomes a serious chicken robber near fishing
villages; once recorded carrying off a domestic duck.
voice and cauls. Very noisy during breeding season. At this time, par-
ticularly just prior to copulation, the female utters a loud, nasal, metallic
kdnk-kdnk~kdnk-kdnk t etc. the male responding with a shorter quick-repeated
hen-ken-ktn-ken, etc. (up to ten times) and continued for over three minutes
or more with short breaks; this in an uneven duet. Female also utters kdnk-
k&nk-kank during copulation, now rather long drawn and slower in tempo,
ending up ecstatically as in young koel {Eudynamys) receiving food from
fosterer. Whether calls of male and female different, or common but dependent
on context and occasion, uncertain. A single loud nasal clang also uttered from
time to time reminiscent of Black Ibis’s call ( Pseudibis papillosus ), but louder.
breeding. Season , October to January. Nest, an enormous platform of
sticks and twigs, often 1*25 to 1*50 metres across and some 50 to 75 cm.
thick, the result of repairs and annual accretions. Placed 10 to 50 metres
up in lofty trees such as casuarina growing on the coast or on an off-shore
islet; sometimes directly on a rocky stack in the sea. Usually a single pair
with a vast territory, but not uncommonly several pairs and nests on the
same small island. The same nest and site are used year after year, sometimes
becoming traditional and legendary, and occupied by ‘ the same ’ pair for
50 years and more. It is not known how the tenancy of a nest passes from
one pair to its successor when the need arises. Nor where the young disperse
after fledging, since local populations do not show any appreciable fluctua-
tion. Evidently infertility in eggs is high and mortality among nestlings
heavy. Eggs> almost invariably 2, broad to longish white ovak, unmarked.
Average size of 32 eggs 77*7 x 53 4 mm. (Baker). Both sexes share in
PLATE 16
1 Bucem b. hamai, Great Pied Horabill (776)* 2 Torges calms, Black Vulture Q 78).
3 (fyps h tewirostris, Indian Longbilled Vulture (184). 4 Gras a, skarpii, Sarus Crane
(324). 5 P/m Jit. spkjfcr, Burmese Peafowl (312) , 6 Gyps bengalmis, Indian Wytdbadkied
Vulture (185). 7 Afgmiam argus, Argus Pheasant (SE) <£. ,
HAWKS* VULTURES, ETC. m
building and repairing the nest; apparently the male does some of the
incubating as well. Period unrecorded.
Museum Diagnosis, No lanceolate feathers on breast or hindneck. Legs excep-
tionally powerful. Adult: tail brown with broad white ending. Immature: tail
variegated and mottled brown and white. Head nearly always lighter than back,
MEASUREMENTS
Wing
Bill
Tarsus
Tail
(from feathers)
&&
9 9
526-589
588-606
} c, 48-55
f. 92-99
208-260 mm.
(Baker)
COLOURS OF BARB
PARTS.
Iris hazel-brown. Bill dark leaden; cere paler bluish
grey. Legs and feet pale yellowish white to greyish white; claws darker.
174. Ringtailed or Pallas’s Fishing Eagle. Halmetus leuemyphus
(Pallas)
Aquila leucorypha Pallas, 1771, Reise Versch. Prov. Russ. Reichs, 1:454
(Lower Ural river)
Baker, FBI No. 1779, Vol. 5: 112
Plato 11, fig. 4, facing p. 20B
local names. Machharang , Machhmanga, Dhenk , Patras (Hindi); Karol, Machhal
(Bengal) ; Kdnkam (Nepal) ; Kural haaz (Sind) ; Kokna , Ugus (C. India and on the
Ganga at Rajmahal); Sorail, Kootair (local in Bihar).
size. Kite+ ; length c. 76-04 cm. ( c . 30-33 in.).
field characters. A large dark brown eagle with pale golden brown
head and neck, and a broad white subtenttinal band across rounded (not
wedged-shaped) tail, particularly conspicuous in flight though tail seldom
spread out, and appearing rather narrow. Sexes alike; female slightly larger.
When sailing, wings held in same plane as body, the tips of the primaries
slightly downcurved.
Young (immature). Dark brown, the wing quills and tail (unbanded)
very dark. Ear-coverts dark. Underparts paler and greyer.
x f. \
status, distribution and habitat. Resident and partly migratory —
W. Pakistan and N. India up to r. 1800 m. alt. in the Himalayas, from
Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Nepal (Valley and lowlands) through
the Gangetic Plain" east to Assam and E. Pakistan, south to a line roughly
from Surat (2l*lCfN.) to Gopaipur (19°20'N.) south of Ghiika lake in
290 FALCON IFORMES
Orissa. Affects the neighbourhood of large rivers, tidal creeks, and inland
lakes and jheels.
Extralimitd . ‘ S. Russia through C, Asia to Transbaikalia and south
to the Persian Gulf, N. India and N. Burma * (Peters),
migration. No specific data, but from the large numbers to be seen in
summer in the treeless Kailas-Manasarovar region of W. Tibet, dotted
about the meandering streams and bogs (Sdlim Ali, JBNHS 46: 304) it is
reasonable to surmise that these eagles migrate for reproduction purposes
to our area. Suitable conditions for this include not only tree sites but also
a plentiful fish supply for the young, which is unlikely to be obtainable in
Tibet in winter due to freezing of the streams. According to Biswas it is
very common and conspicuous [breeding] about the * Salt Lakes* near
Calcutta between October and April, but disappears dining the hottest
months, about May to September, This is good corroborative evidence.
Htliaeetus leucoryphus
general habits. Normally seen perched on a mound, fishing stake or
tree-top by a jheel, or on a sandbank in a river, or sailing aloft in wide
circles uttering its loud creaking call from time to time. Particularly noisy
during the breeding season when pairs indulge in aerobatics of the typical
raptor pattern. Hunts fish by hurling itself on one near the surface and
carrying it off in its talons. Does not plunge in like Osprey, Sometimes fish
of large size are struck — once one weighing 6 kg. Being unable to lift such
heavy weights clear, the bird is obliged to drag the quarry along the water fill
it can be beached on a shelving bank, and Acre devoured. Abo obtains
its food by pirating on ospreys, Brahminy kites, and marsh hat riers,attacking
and, chasing them with determination and depriving them of their lawful
HAWKS, VULTURES, ETC, 291
price. At large breeding heronries, e.g. Keoladeo Ghana, Bharatpur,
obtains good and easy living by marauding neats of white ibises, openbill
storks, etc. Young darters (Ankinga) when half to three-quarters grown are
particularly relished, the eagle sailing leisurely over the nest trees and picking
its choice of the fat squabs. Every time it sails or skims over the nest colony
the adults set up a chorus of deep long-drawn grunting * alerts ’ which soundls
like a continuous roar heralding the marauder’s progress. At the same time
all the birds train their bill-points at the eagle as if to ward off the threatened
onslaught. Abo works havoc among flightless young terns in river-bed
colonies. In winter subsists largely on immigrant coots, making constant
raids on the swimming herds and scattering diem, Its strategy is to isolate
one individual and stoop on it repeatedly as it surfaces for breath until it is
exhausted and can be seized and borne away hanging limply from the
talons. Occasionally both birds of a pair will take turns in this process of
attrition. Has been observed to sit on a struggling victim in shallow water
for some minutes in a seemingly deliberate attempt to drown it.
food. Chiefly fish, but also water-birds such as coots and purple moor-
hens. Wildfowl as large as Barheaded Goose falling to a sportsman’s gun
snatched from almost under his nose. Sometimes even large uninjured birds
like Demoiselle crane are killed. Snakes, frogs, mud turtles and carrion
also recorded, and in one case an entire dead cat was carried off. In a
nest near Hardwar (U.P.), B. B. Osmaston found three young eaglets to-
gether with the arm of a man, doubtless off a corpse floating in the Ganges.
Takes heavy toll of young geese (Anser indicus) in Ladakh.
voice and calls. Loud, far-carrying raucous shrieks very like the creak-
ing of the unoiled wooden block tackle of a village well. Reminiscent of
* a hoarse Pekinese barking and very similar to the call of the Whitetailed
Sea Eagle, H, albicilla (P. I. R. Maclaren) . At very close range, a preliminary
low croaking audible; also another note exactly like a hen clucking to her
chickens only repeated rhythmically (H. A. F. Magrath).
breeding. Commonly to c . 1800 m. alt. in the Himalayas, and more or
less wherever found in the plains. Season , October to February; mainly
November, December, January. Nest, a huge stick platform as of No. 173
usually lined with green leaves. Built c . 15 to 35 metres up in a large simul
(Salmalia), peepul (Ficus), chenar (Platanus) or other tree, or Borassus or
coconut palm standing in or near a swamp, river, or lake often on village
outskirts. Eggs , 2 to 4, usually 3, white, unmarked. Average size of 60 eggs
69-7 X 55-1 mm. (Baker). Both sexes share in building the nest and
incubation. Period unrecorded. Both parents forage for and feed the young.
Museum Diagnosis. Adult, with a well-marked ruff of lanceolate feathers. Tail
brown with a white cross-band c. 10 cm. broad, c. 8 cm. up from the end. Immature:
Feathers of breast lanceolate; with a distinct ruff. Tail variegated and mottled
brown and white.
MEASUREMENTS
Wing Bill Tarsus Tail
(from feathers)
<?<? 555-578 50-55 100-103 271-275 mm.
9 9 558-598 59-62 98-106 274-29* mm.
(Baker)
29? FALCONIFORMES
colours or $arb farts. Iris greyish yellow to yellow. Bill dark slaty black or
plumbeous; cere and gape paler. Legs and feet dull white, yellowish white, or dull
yellow; claws black.
Genus Icth yqphag a Lesson
Icthyophaga Lesson, 1843, Echo du Monde Savant (2), 7: cdL 14. Type, by monotypy,
Icthyophaga javana Lesson = Falco ichthyaetus Horsfield
In some respects very close to Pandion , but unlike it the feathers have aftershafts
as in true eagles (Aquila) . Tarsus very powerful, feathered on upper third or half;
scutellated in front and behind, reticulated at sides. Toes equally powerful, scutellated
above, with enormous strongly curved claws not grooved underneath. Soles of
feet densely covered with little spicules for grasping slippery prey (fish). Outer toe
reversible as in Pandion but to a lesser extent. Wing rounded; 4th and 5th primaries
(as.) longest and subequal; 1st primary shorter than secondaries. Tail moderately
long; slightly rounded.
The genus contains two species confined to the Oriental Region.
Key to the Species
All tail-feathers tipped with brown, white on basal two-thirds
I. ichthyaetus
Central tail-feathers brown throughout I, nana
Icthyophaga ichthyaetus (Horsfield)
Key to the Subspecies
Larger; wing 450 mm. or over /. i . ichthyaetus
Smaller; wing 440 mm. or under /. i. plumbeiceps
Page
292
294
175. Greyheaded Fishing Eagle. Icthyophaga ichthyaetus ichthyaetus
(Horsfield)
Falco Ichthyaetus Horsfield, 1821, Trans. Linn. Soc. London, 13(1): 136 (Java)
Baker, FBI No. 1780, Vol. 5: 114
Plate 15, fig. 5, facing p. 272
local names. Madhuya (Hindi); Machhmoral (Bengal); Na daoling gadeba
(Cachari).
size. Kite + ; length c. 74 cm. (29 in.).
field characters. A d u 1 1 . Above, head and neck grey; crown, nape,
and upper back light brown. Rest of upperparts dark brown; wing quills
blackish. Below i breast paler brown than back. Abdomen, flanks and tail
white, the last with a blackish terminal band 5 to 8 cm. broad. Sexes alike
In overhead aspect the comparatively short white black-bordered tail,
brown breast, and white abdomen and vent diagnostic.
Young (immature). Above , Dark brown, the feathers edged with pale
greyish. Wing quills barred. Head and neck brown streaked with whitish
Below , chin, throat, and sides of head greyish. Breast and flanks pale brown
broadly streaked with white. White portions of abdomen, flanks and tail
heavily mottled with brown.
HAWKS, VULTURES, ETC. 293
STATUS, DISTR1BITOON and habitat. Resident. Widely though sparsely
distributed except in W. Pakistan and north-west of Delhi (Punjab etc.),
and in arid semi-desert biotope. East to Assam and E. Pakistan (commonest
in W. Bengal, Bihar, E. Pakistan and Assam), south from the Himalayan
terai and foothills to Kerala. Also Nepal (though no recent record). Affects
the neighbourhood of perennial, comparatively sluggish streams, rivers,
and lakes and tidal lagoons (Bengal), in well-watered, well-wooded plains
country.
ExtralimitaL Burma, Malay Peninsula, Philippines, Greater Sunda Islands
and eastward to Celebes (Sulawesi).
general habits. A predominantly fish-eating eagle, met singly or in
widely spaced pairs sitting bolt upright on boughs overlooking clear shingly
perennial streams and rock pools in forest — in more or less the same
facies as favoured by the Storkbilled Kingfisher. Rather sluggish, and with
a heavy-looking though rapid flight, the wing-beats sharp and full. Soars
and circles aloft much less frequently, and for shorter periods, than most
other eagles. Fish captured from near the surface by swooping from the air
while quartering a likely reach of river, but chiefly from a lookout perch.
Does not plunge like osprey. Very noisy during breeding season. Courtship
display not recorded.
food. Almost exclusively fish, some of very large size which, being too
heavy to lift clear of the water, are dragged along to the bank. When feeding
nest-young may take birds and small mammals; thus remains of junglefowl
and squirrels recorded near nest.
voice and calls. A weird, clanging cry, loud and far-carrying, of the
timbre of a Grey HombilPs (Tockus birostris) ‘ laugh ’ or peacock’s may-awe .
Uttered singly as a shout or a succession of screams, on the wing or from a
concealed perch.
breeding. Season , mainly November to January. Nest, an enormous
platform of sticks and twigs sometimes up to 1*50 m. across and 1 m. thick
— the result of additions year by year. Frequently maintains two (or three?)
alternative nests within a mile or so of each other, used irregularly in succes-
sive seasons. Built 10 to 30 metres up in or at the top of large trees such as
Salmalia, Terminalia or Albizzia near a forest stream or tank. The pair
roosts in the proximity of one of the nests throughout the year. Eggs, normally
2, occasionally 3, very rarely 4. White, unmarked, similar to but propor-
tionately longer than those of Haliaeetus leucoryphus . Average size of 20 eggs
68*5 X 51*9 mm. (Baker). Both sexes share in nest-building and repair,
as well as in incubation and nest-feeding. Incubation period 28-30 days;
young remain in nest c. 10 weeks (vide Baker).
Museum Diagnosis. All tail-feathers white on basal two-thirds; blackish brown
on terminal one-third. Differs from the Ceylon race (176) in being larger.
MEASUREMENTS
Wing Bill Tarsus Tail
(from feathers)
<7*9 450-515 47-54 92-100 248-280 mm.
(Baker)
colours of rare farts. Iris: adult, bright golden yellow; immature, brown
or mottled with brown; nestling, blue-brown. Bill dark homy brown; base bluish
294 FALCONIFOftMES
plumbeous; cere brown. Legs and feet china white to dull pale yellowish grey;
claws black.
176. Ceylon Greyheaded Fishing Eagle, hthyophaga khthyattus
plumbeiceps Baker
Ichthyophaga ichthyaetus plumbeiceps Baker, 1927, Bull. Brit. Om. Cl., 47: 150
(Trincomalee, Ceylon)
Baker, FBI No. 1781, Vol. 5: 116
local names. Wiwa rdjaliya , Lul mara (Sinhala); Vidai dli (Tamil). ‘Tank
Eagle * of local birdwatchers.
size. Kite+; length c. 69 cm. (27 in.).
FIELD CHARACTERS. As in 175.
status, distribution and habitat. Race peculiar to. Ceylon. Fairly
plentiful. Affects the jungle borders of irrigation tanks, coastal lagoons and
estuaries, and the larger rivers in the low-country dry zone.
general habits and food. As in 175.
voice and calls. c A loud unmusical, rather weird shout with a curious
gurgling quality — awk awhrr , etc. Uttered early morning and late evening
and sometimes far into the night — especially in the breeding season *
(G. M. Henry).
breeding. Season, December to March. Nest and site similar to those
of the Indian bird. Eggs , only 1 or 2 recorded; dirty white measuring c.
64 x 51 mm. (Baker).
Museum Diagnosis. Differs from the nominate rare by smaller size, and in most
adult birds being perhaps less cinereous brown above.
MEASUREMENTS
Wing
Bill Tarsus
Tail
<79
420-435
(from feathers)
r. 46 c. 85-90
232 242 mm.
(once 445)
(Baker)
colours of bare parts. As in Indian birds.
177. Himalayan Greyheaded Fishing Eagle. Icthyophaga nam plumbea
(Jerdon)
Polioaetus plumbeus ‘ Hodgson * ~ Jerdon, 1871, Ibis: 336 (North-western Himalayas)
Baker, FBI No. 1783, Vol. 5: 1 17
Plate 11, fig. 3, facing p. 208
local name. Na daoling kashiba (Cachari) .
size. Kite±; length c . 64 cm. (25 in.).
field characters. Very similar to Greyheaded Fishing Eagle (175)
except that the head is purer grey, less brown on crown, with the feathers
black-shafted above and below. Basal two-thirds of tail mottled browft and
white looking greyish instead of pure white; terminal third blackish. Central
HAWKS, VULTURES, ETC* 495
pair of tail-feathers dark brown throughout, with broad blackish mbterminal
band and pale tip. Sexes alike*
In overhead aspect the different tail pattern readily distinguishes it from
175.
Young (immature) differs from adult as in 175.
fcthyoptofo nano
status, distribution and habitat. Resident, Kashmir and Himachal
Pradesh, east through Nepal to eastern Assam and E. Pakistan ( ?) ; from
the foothills to r. 2400 metres altitude. The optimum zone is apparently
between c. 1000 and 1500 m. in Kashmir; under 1000 m. in the eastern
Himalayas. In winter wanders into the adjoining terai and plains of the
Punjab, U.P. and Bihar — once as far south as Melghat ( c . 21°40'N., 77°
10'E,), Madhya Pradesh (D’Abreu). Affects clear rapid forest streams in
the foothills and terai, and jheels and irrigation tanks — rarely even com-
paratively open reaches of rivers.
Extralimitd . Upper Burma. Represented in L. Burma and Malaysia to
Sumatra by the smaller nominate race.
general habits. Not appreciably different from 175. When disturbed
sitting rather hunched up on a low snag or rock amid stream in forest,
rises perpendicularly with a series of slow owl-like flaps to clear the tall trees
fringing the banks.
food. like 175, almost exclusively fish Sometimes destructive to trout
in Himalayan streams.
voice and galls. Very noisy when nesting. Incubating bird greets
arrival of mate at nest by * a succession of querulous shouts and cackles,
29$ FALCONIFORMFS
not unlike a!yery small child crying. In the distance this sounds distinctly
plaintive and childlike, but at close quarters querulous and unpleasant*
(C. H, Donald).
breeding. Season, chiefly March, April, May. JVdrt, as in 175 a huge
pile of sticks and twigs attaining enormous proportions by addition of more
material year by year since the same nest is used for a great many years
in succession; usually well lined with green leaves. Built in tall trees in forest
on or near a river bank. Eggs> 2 or 3, small replicas of those of the larger
Greyheaded species. Average size of 28 eggs 65*2 X 50 * 3 mm. (Baker) . Share
of the sexes in the domestic chores unrecorded.
Museum Diagnosis. Central tail-feathers brown throughout, darker and pale-
tipped on terminal third, contra white with broad blackish terminal band in /.
ichthyaetus.
MEASUREMENTS
Wing
Bill
Tarsus
Tail
& 9
435-495
(from feathers)
40-46
78-91
223-248 mm.
3 Jc? recently collected in
426-467
Nepal measure:
(from skull)
43-48
(Baker)
215-238 mm.
(Biswas)
colours of bare parts. * Iris golden yellow. Bill black, plumbeous on base
and lower mandible; cere slaty. Legs and feet dull white with bluish tinge at “knees”
and on the digits; claws black; pads dirty white * (Biswas).
Genus Toro os 'Kaup
Torgos Kaup, 1828, Isis 21, col. 1144. Type, by monotypy, Vultur auricularis Daudin
~ Vultur tracheliotus Forster
Sarcogyps Lesson, 1842, Echo du Monde Savant (2), 6, col. 1038. Type, by monotypy
Vultur ponticenanus Latham = Vultur calvus Scopoli
Distinguished by the possession of a large wattle of skin behind and below each
car. Skin of head and neck bare without any down. Ruff even smaller than in
Aegypius , q.v.
178. Black or King Vulture. Torgos calvus (Scopoli)
Vultur calvus Scopoli, 178$, Del. Faun, ct Flor. Insubr., 2; 85
(Pondicherry, ex Sonnerat)
Baker, FBI No. 1706, Vol. 5: 9
Plate 16, fig. 2, facing p. 288
Other name. Pondicherry Vulture.
local names. Raj gidh , Mulla gidh , Bhdonra (Hindi) ; R5j shakoon , Kdlo shakoon
(Bengal); Kannara gidh (Bihar); Lai gidh (Cachar); Raj hogon (Assam); Loong nong
bong (Lepcha) ; JVdlla bdrdivd (Telugu).
size. Whitebacked Vulture db J length c. 84 cm. (r. 33 in.).
HAWKS, VULTURES, ETC. * 297
field characters. A huge black vulture readily identified by its deep
yellowish red naked head and neck, thighs and legs. White patches at
base of neck and on upper thighs
are additional pointers. When sail-
ing aloft the red head, white breast-
and thigh-patches, and a thin
whitish band along underside of
outstretched wings conspicuous,
even at long range. Wings rather
pointed with moderately splayed
‘ fingertips held above plane of
back in a wide V. Sexes alike,
Young (immature). Above ,
brown, scalloped paler. Crown
c. i
covered with white down; neck
partly feathered. Below, crop white;
breast, anterior flanks and abdomen pale brown; posterior flanks and
abdomen, and under tail-coverts^ white.
status, distribution and habitat. Resident. Throughout the Indian
Union, both Pakistans, Nepal, up to c. 2000 metres altitude in the Himalayas
locally. Not Ceylon. Sparse and nowhere numerically abundant. Affects
the open countryside — chiefly deciduous and semi-desert biotope — in
the neighbourhood of habitations.
ExtralimitaL Burma, Thailand, Malay Peninsula, S. Viet Nam.
general habits. Much less gregarious than the other large vultures.
Even at animal carcases seldom more than a solitary or a couple present
among the seething rabbles of Whitebacks and others. Very rarely, however,
pure gatherings of up to 20 or 30 birds may be met. Called * King * Vulture
because of a spurious reputation for boldness and overbearing pugnacity
inspiring awe amongst its fellow feasters and thus monopolizing a carcase
until it has had its pick of the choicest titbits, In actual fact it may usually
be marked out as the timidest member of the vulture gatherings at wayside
carcases. It keeps itself deferentially aloof of the scrimmage, only venturing
forward surreptitiously now and again in obvious nervousness to tug at a
gobbet, and withdrawing hurriedly when overwhelmed by the press. It
is a powerful bird and in spite of its size and weight can lift itself off the
ground by a few wing-strokes even when fully gorged.
food. Almost exclusively carrion. In common with other vultures highly
beneficial as a scavenger, disposing quickly of animal carcases from the
precincts of villages where they would otherwise putrefy and breed disease.
Once recorded swooping on a wounded Greenshank ( Tringa nebularia)\
voice and calls. * A hoarse croak, with a sort of scream affixed to it
when quarrelling at a carcase * (T. R. Bell). A raucous ‘roaring 9 during
copulation.
breeding. Season, overall December to April, earlier in the plains, later
in the lower Himalayas; most generally February and March. Nest, a large
platform of sticks and twigs, untidily lined with straw and leaves; less massive
and thick than of many eagles. Built c. 9 to 12 metres up on the fop of a
large tree like pcepul (Ficus) or mango (Mangifera) often near a village.
298 * FALCONI FORMES
In semi-desert areas even on bushes or small trees, e.g. Pmopit, barely 2 or 3
metreg up. Same nest and/or rite used year after year. Egg, a singleton*
roundish oval, white, becoming stained and discoloured during incubation.
Average si zi of 60 eggs 83*9 x 66*0 mm. (Baker). Both rims share in
buildirig the nest, incubation, and feeding the young. Incubation period
about 45 da^s.
Copulation on the wing has occasionally been reported, but in the case
of such ponderous birds this seems an incredible feat of jugglery 1 Perhaps
only slow-motion cinematography can reveal the actual de tails of the
* plunges and wing-flappings * of the birds (pair?) towards the ground with
claws interlocked — not infrequently seen during aerial courtship in the
breeding season — and of two birds sailing with outstretched motionless
wings one over the other, so close as to appear almost in contact.
Museum Diagnosis
Chick (hi down), * Crown from level of eyes, and nape, clothed with short close
grey-white down; rest of upperparts with longer grey- white. Centre of chin and
throat sparsely tufted same. Crop with thicker buff-tinged down; sides of breast
and flanks longer pale buff down. Bare skin of face, and upperparts of head and
cere pale bluish lead colour in contrast to skin of throat, chin, and neck which is
pinkish lead. A bare ring c. 32 mm. wide round neck from nape, bare with longitudi-
nal flaps of loose skin, a prominent one on each side, being probably the origin of
the adult wattles * (Whistler).
MEASUREMENTS
Wing Bill Tarsus Tail
(from forehead)
<?$ 600-625 74-80 108-116 226-257 mm.
(Baker)
Two recent specimens from Nepal have Wing 566, 9 592; tail (J 1 248, 9
250 mm. (Biswas).
colours of bare parts. Iris yellow, red-brown or crimson. Bill dark brown,
yellowish at base of lower mandible. Cere and bare skin of head and neck deep
yellowish red; wattles redder. Bare skin on either side of crop and inside thighs
duller yellowish red. Legs dull livid fleshy to dull red.
Genus Aeoypius Savigny
Aegypius Savigny, 1809, Descr. Egypte, Ois., 1: 68, 73. Type, by monotypy, Vultur
niger Daudin = Vultur monachus Linnaeus
Bill comparatively short, very strong, deep and arching from the cere. Nostrils
almost square (with rounded corners) ; oblique. Head broad and covered with down,
short on crown longer on nape. Neck naked with a moderate ruff at base reaching
up to its back. Claws grooved below.
Genus monotypic. Found in Southern Europe, temperate Asia, N. Africa.
179. Cinereous Vulture. Aegypius monachus (Linnaeus)
Vultur Monachus Linnaeus, 1766, Syst. Nat., ed. 12, 1: 122
(Arabia, ex Edwards, pi. 290)
Baker, FBI No. 1705, Vol. 5; 7
local names. Kdla gidh (Hindi) ; Gat pmom (Lepcha).
size. Vulture +i length r. 100—110 cm. (40-42 in.).
HAWKS* VULTURES, ETC* 2»
field characters. A huge, uniformly black or blackish brown vulture
with naked leaden pinkish neck surrounded by a distinct blackish (not white)
ruff. Partially naked head conspicuously broader than in other vultures.
Grown, occiput, lores and cheeks covered with black fur-like feathers and
down. No fleshy wattles on sides of neck. Sexes alike.
* *- i
In overhead aspect dark plumage above and below, absence of white
crop- and thigh-patches, broader wings without whitish stripe, and slightly
wedge-shaped (v. rounded) tail distinguish it from King Vulture (178).
Young (immature). Paler and browner.
status, distribution and habitat. Resident (breeding) in the high
mountains of W. Pakistan (Baluchistan) and India in Gilgit, Punjab (Lahul),
Assam (N. Cachar) and possibly elsewhere along the stretch of the Himalayan
Dry Temperate zone between c. 1800 and 3600 m. alt. Rare and sparse
winter visitor to Sind, NW. and northern India (including Nepal), Kutch,
N. Gujarat and central India, south to about the latitude of Dhulia in
Khandesh (c. 21 Q N.). Affects open savannah and semi-desert country;
avoids forest.
ExtralimitaL 6 Breeds locally in S. Europe from Portugal to the lower
Danube, the Caucasus and southern Urals to NE. Tibet and E, China,
south to N. Morocco, Asia Minor, and the Himalayas’ (Peters).
general habits. Very little recorded in India. A rare vulture, seen
singly in winter perched on mounds etc. where its enormous size and
all-black coloration immediately attract attention. Joins the vulture mobs
feasting pn wayside animal carcases where it seems to command a distinct
deference from the other species, boldly striding forward through the
jostling rabble and helping itself to the repast without let or hindrance.
' rood, Carrion. One feeding on dead Painted Stork ( Ibis Imcocephalus)
(E. A. Butler). Elsewhere recorded as hunting tortoises and extracting the
meat from under the carapace.
vmca and calls. Unrecorded.
BR&KDmo. Within our Hmits only recorded in Baluchistan, between t,
2400 and 3000 metres elevation, and in the Barail Range of N. Cachar
300
FALCON IFORMBS
Mgyplut morwchu*
at c. 1800 m. Season , apparently March and April though eggs have been
taken in Assam in January and May. JVest y an enormous mass of sticks and
twigs added to year after year; in one case c, 2 metres deep (from base to
top) and c, 1 • 5 m. in diameter. Built right on top of a juniper or suchlike
tree 8 to 12 m. high or more, growing on a steep hillside or out of a cliff.
Eggi a singleton, very handsome, varying in ground colour from pure white
to pale buff or creamy buff and richly marked with deep red, red-brown
or purplish brown. Sometimes white, quite unmarked. Average size of 18
eggs taken in India and Turkestan 90*6 x 69-5 mm. (Baker). Share of the
sexes in the domestic chores, and incubation period, unrecorded.
Museum Diagnosis. For description of plumage see Baker, loc. cit.
Chick (in down) about one week old, smoky grey. Cere light pink; bill darkish
at tip. Iris yellowish. Legs and feet creamy white; claws black (F. L. Hughes).
MEASUREMENTS
Wing Bill Tarsus Tail
(from forehead)
756-843 c. 80-88 c. 132-146 350-40Qmm,
(Baker)
An adult measured 8 ft. 11£ inches (273 cm.) from wing-tip to wing-tip (Delme-
Raddiffe).
colours of bare parts. Iris brown. Bill blackish brown, sometimes yellowish
at base and on lower mandible; cere pale mauve, plumbeous grey, or almost salmon
pink. Naked skin of neck dirty white slightly tinged with red, or livid flesh colour.
Legs and feet creamy or pearl white.
HAWKS, VULTURES, ETC. 301
Genus Gyps Savigny
Gyps Savigny, 1809, Descr. Bgypte, Ois., 1 : 68, 71, Type, by monotypy, Gyps vulgaris
Savigny « Vulturfulm Hablizl
Pseudogyps Sharpe, 1873, Ann. and Mag, Nat. Hist., 11(4): 1 33. Type, by subsequent
designation, Vultur bmgalmsis Gmelin. (Sharpe, 1874, Cat. Bds. Brit Mu»., 1:11)
Distinguished from Tor gas in having no ear lappets. Head narrower and longer
in proportion; bill slenderer and longer. Nostrils very narrow slit-like, vertical or
slightly oblique. Ruff at base of neck well developed, consisting of long narrow
feathers. Tail-feathers 12 or 14.
Genus represented throughout Africa, S. Europe, SW. and C. Asia.
Key to the Species
Page
A Tail-feathers twelve G. bengdensis -607
B Tail-feathers fourteen 1
1 Bill smaller and more slender ; depth of base of bill less than length
of cere,, .....G. indicus 304
Bill larger and less slender; depth of base equal to length of cere. . . .a
a Lower plumage with narrow shaft-stripes G. fuluus 301
Lower plumage with broad shaft-stripes G. himalayensis 302
180. Indian Griffon Vulture. Gyps fulvus Julvescens Hume
Gyps Fulvescens Hume, 1869, My Scrap Book, 1 : 15, 19. (Punjab, northern Rajasthan
and * North-West Provinces * ( — Uttar Pradesh), north and west of Etawah s»
Gurgaon, Punjab, according to Baker, 1928, p. 1 1)
Baker, FBI No. 707, Vol. 5:11
local names. Unrecorded.
size. Whitebacked Vulture +; length c. 110-122 cm. (40-48 in.).
field characters. A d u 1 1 . An enormous cinnamon-brown vulture
with scrawny, almost naked neck. Head covered uniformly with yellowish
white hair-like feathers and down. Underparts pinkish brown with narrow
pale shaft-stripes. A prominent whitish ruff of lanceolate downy feathers
at base of neck. Sexes alike.
In overhead aspect looks a dirty white witli the quills forming a broad
black apex and trailing edge to the broad * splayed finger 9 wings, and black
tail. Cannot be differentiated from Himalayan Griffon (181) on the wing;
distinguishable from Cinereous Vulture (179) by whitish underparts and
square or slightly rounded ( v , slightly wedge-shaped) tail.
Young (immature). Darker fulvous-brown with the ruff browner than
in adult.
status, distribution and habitat. W. Pakistan (Baluchistan, Sind) and
northern India (including Nepal lowlands). Commoner in the semi-desert
areas of W. Pakistan and N. Gujarat, straggling east to W. Assam plains,
south roughly to latitude 20°N. ; occasionally further south in the Deccan.
Southernmost authentic record, a specimen from Bombay (Kurla) in BNHS
coll. Owing to constant confusion in sight records and paucity of collected
902 FALCON I FORMES
material, accurate range difficult to define; also to determine whether this
or the nominate race (found in Iran) breeds in Baluchistan* Affects bare
mountains and open savannah and semi-desert country.
general habits. Small numbers usually present among the gatherings
at animal carcases of the commoner Whitebacked and Longbilled species,
in the semi-desert parts of north-western India. Easily recognized from them
by its great size and warm cinnamon coloration. Habits similar to those of
other members of the genus, described under the Whiteback (185), q.v.
food, voice and calls. As in 185.
breeding. Old published records of breeding in Bihar, Oudh and Madhya
Pradesh, etc., are generally vitiated by doubtful identification as pointed
out above. However, breeding in the mountains of Baluchistan, at c. 2500-
3000 m. elevation, and in Kashmir, well authenticated though race merely
presumed (probably correctly) as the Indian fulvescens . Probably also breeds
in 'the Kirfhar Hills between Sind and Baluchistan. Season, February to
April. Nest, a large platform of sticks on ledges of cliffs, built singly or in
small colonies.
Eggs, a singleton, white, occasionally flecked with red; rarely blotched
and spotted with the same. Average size of 25 eggs 90 -7 x 70*2mm. (Baker).
Both sexes said to assist in building the nest. Incubation period and other
details unrecorded.
Museum Diagnosis. Differs from the nominate European race in being more
cinnamon-brown than isabclline. For description of plumage etc. see Baker, loc.
cit. Easily confusable with sub-adult G. indicus; may be differentiated as follows:
indteus fulvescens
1. Smaller 1. larger
2. Down on head more patchy ; starred 2. Head uniformly covered with down
rather than a uniform covering
3. General colour dirty earth-brown 3. General colour warm cinnamon-
brown
MEASUREMENTS
Wing Bill Tarsus Tail
(from forehead)
rfi 9 675-740 c . 71-74 c. 100-120 302-330 m*n.
(Baker)
Wing 9 685-747 mm. (both extremes c? ) (Kirkc-Swann).
colours of bare parts. Iris yellow-brown to brown. Bill yellowish or greenish
homy to dusky brown sometimes paler along edge of culmcn; cere black. Legs and
feet dirty yellow to greenish grey (Baker).
181. Himalayan Griffon Vulture. Gyps himalayensis Hume
Gyps Himalayensis Hume, 1869, Rough Notes, 12, 15
(Himalayas from Kabul to Bhutan)
Baker, FBI No. 1709, Vol. 5: 13
Plate 6, fig. 7, facing p, 112
local names. BM& gidh (Chamba) ; Grad (Kashmir).
size. Whitebacked Vulture +; r. 122 cm, (48 in.).
HAWKS, VULTURES, ETC. 303
tt&uo characters. Virtually the largest bird in the Himalayas. A typical
vulture, very like 180, but adult sandy white or pale khaki above instead of
cinnamon-brown. Below , pale brownish buff with conspicuously broader
whitish shaft-streaks than in fulvescens. Ruff longer, pale brown streaked
with white. Sexes alike. Many intermediate colour phases depending on
age.
In overhead aspect, large size, very pale (almost whitish) underside,
black tail, black trailing edges of the broad, almost rectangular wings
together with their * splayed finger * tips, and High Himalayan domicile
are diagnostic.
Young (immature). Dark brown and chocolate-brown with whitish
shaft-stripes, especially broad on ruff and underparts. Wing and tail-feathers
nearly black. Overhead aspect very like Aegypius tnonachus except for the
white round the crop-patch, the less uniformly dark colouring produced by
striped underparts, and the somewhat less broad wings. Confusable also
with immature Whitebacked and LongbiJled vultures, but much larger and
seldom likely to be met together in same habitats.
status, distribution and habitat. A purely mountain bird. Resident
in the Himalayas from W. Pakistan (NWFP) to Bhutan and W. Assam,
normally between c . 600 and 2500 m. altitude, foraging up to 4500 m. and
even higher.
Extralimital. Mountains of Afghanistan and Turkestan, Tibet, the Pamirs,
and the Himalayas east to W. China.
general habits. Similar to those of Whitebacked Vulture (185) and
others of the genus. Normally seen singly or in twos and threes sailing
majestically on outspread motionless wings over mountaintop and valley,
or sweeping round the rugged contours with astonishing speed and grace,
scouting for food. Or it rises on the thermals to immense heights, circling
for hours together in the heavens, obviously for fun. Commonly keeps in the
neighbourhood of high mountain passes and along well-used trade routes
where the stricken pack animals of the caravans provide it with regular
sustenance. The birds also follow the flocks and herds of the graziers up to
the alpine pastures in spring for any of the animals that may die. The way
in which a rabble of 10 to 20 of the great birds will materialize at a carcase
on a remote mountain pass from out of the clear blue sky, and the speed and
thoroughness with which they will demolish it, is a source of never-failing
wonderment. In a few short minutes all that is left of the animal is odd bits
of skin, and bones stripped of everything that can be eaten.
breeding. Season, chiefly January to March or April. Nest, a large rough
and untidy pad of sticks and rubbish placed on the ledge of a cliff, often
inaccessible. Singly, or in small colonies of 5 or 6 nests spaced out on the
same cliff-face. Favourite sites, advertised in the distance by the whitewash
of the occupants’ droppings, are resorted to year after year, the old nests
being reconditioned by adding to the ragged remnants of the previous
season. Egg, a singleton, white, usually unmarked; sometimes handsomely
blotched with pale reddish to deep reddish brown. Inside membrane of
all Gyps eggs dark bright green. Average size Of 50 eggs 94-8 X 70*1 mm.
(Baker). Share of the sexes in the nesting chores, and period of
incubation, unrecorded.
304 FALCONIFORMRS
Museum Diagnosis. Bill Urge and stout; depth at base equal to length of cere.
Lower plumage with broad shaft-stripes. For details of plumage etc. see Baker,
loc. cit. .<
MEASUREMENTS
Wing Bill Tarsus Tail
(from forehead)
<*9 755-805 71-77 c. 110-126 365-402 mm.
(once 81) (Baker)
Middle toe and claw 121-135 mm.
Wing 9 790-810 mm. (Kirke-Swann).
colours of bars parts. Iris dull yellow or creamy yellow to pale brown. Bill
homy green, dull yellowish homy or yellowish plumbeous; cere pale brown or
greenish brown. Legs and feet dingy greenish grey or white (Baker).
Gyps indicus (Scopoli)
Key to die Subspecies
Page
A Crown of head almost or quite bare G, i. tenuirostris 306
B Crown of head well covered with hair-like feathers 1
1 Smaller; wing under 680 mm G. i. indicus 304
Larger; wing over 690 mm G. i. jorusi 305
182. Indian Longbilled Vulture. Gyps indicus indicus (Scopoli)
Vultur indicus Scopoli, 1786, Del. Faun, et Flor. Insubr., 2: 85 (India, ex Sonnerat)
Baker, FBI No. 1710, Vol. 5: 16
local names. Gidh (Hindi) ; Gidhdd, Mahd dho (Marathi).
size. Whitebacked Vulture *4- ; length c. 92 cm. (38 in.).
field characters. Adult. Above, light to dark brown, the feathers edged
paler (scalloped). Head, nape, and neck patchily covered with whity brown
hair-like feathers or down. Below , a distinct ruff of soft white feathers at
base of neck. Underparts pale brown, almost sandy, with broad pale shaft-
stripes. Sexes alike.
Easily confused with Indian Griffon Vulture (180). Differs from it in
much smaller size; head not uniformly covered but ‘ starred * with down;
general coloration dirty earth-brown i>. warm cinnamon-brown.
In overhead aspect pale underparts and underwing with broad black
trailing edge as in Griffon, v. a prominent white band stretching along
underwing, distinguish it from adult Whitebacked Vulture (185) even at
great height. Immature birds of the two species impossible to tell with
certainty.
Young (immature). Chocolate-brown. Head and neck more thickly
down-clad. Resembles immatures of both Whitebacked Vulture (185) and
young Himalayan Griffon (181) but is much smaller than latter.
status, distribution and habitat. Resident. Rajasthan, Gujarat and
peninsular India south of the Gangetic Plain. Not in extreme SW. India
or Ceylon. Wide ranging, with no perceptible habitat preferences*
Owing to paucity of collected material, ranges of this and the next two
races can only be approximately assigned.
HAWKS, VULTURES, ETC* 305
obneral habits, Gatherings, sometimes of 20 to 30 birds or more,
commonly seen at animal carcases on the countryside or on outskirts of
towns and villages, in more or less equal numbers with the Whitebacked
species (185) q.v., from which its habits do not appreciably differ.
food, Carrion exclusively; sometimes at tiger or panther kills in forest*
voice and calls. Not specifically recorded.
BEbedino. Season, overall November to March; principally December/
January* Nest, a sketchy platform of sticks and twigs lined with straw in-
variably built on ledges of precipitous cliffs and hill forts. Usually in small
colonics* the same cliff-faces and sites being occupied traditionally; easily
identified in the distance by the excrementary whitewash of past and conti-
nuing vulture generations. By the time the young is fledged practically
nothing is left of the nest, the materials being pushed off the ledge by the
movements of the youngster or blown away by the wind. Egg , a singleton,
generally white; sometimes spotted, blotched or freckled with reddish brown
in varying degree. Average size of 20 eggs 86-6 x 67 -3 mm. (Baker). Share
of the sexes in the domestic chores, and period of incubation, unrecorded.
Museum Diagnosis. Bill smaller and less stout than in Griffon (181); depth at
base less than length of cere.
MEASUREMENTS
Wing
Bill Tarsus
Tail
C?<?
560-650
(from forehead)
c. 66-69 c, 90-94
238-274 mm.
(mostly
600-625)
(Baker)
Wing c? 9 575-679 mm. (Kirke-Swann).
colours of bare parts. Iris brown. Bill greenish or yellowish horny, darker
on culmen; cere dull dirty greenish. Bare skin of head and face plumbeous ashy.
Legs and feet greenish or plumbeous ashy (Baker).
183. West Pakistan Longbilled Vulture* Gyps indicus jonesi Whistler
Gyps indicus jonesi Whistler, 1927, Bull. Brit. Om. Cl., 47: 74
(Margala Range, Rawalpindi dist.)
Baker, FBI No. 1712, Vol. 5: 18
local names. Unrecorded.
size. Whitebacked Vulture +; length r. 100 cm. (c. 42 in.).
FIELD characters. Adult. Like the nominate race (182) but larger
and darker dull earthy brown with a thicker covering of buffy white hairs
on head and white down on neck. Crop-patch more sooty brown. Ruff
buffy white, the feathers short and down as in 182. Sexes alike.
Young (immature). Much darker and browner than adult, sometimes
boldly streaked above and below with buffy white. Ruff of long lanceolate
brownish feathers, boldly streaked paler. Breast-patch generally paler brown.
Overhead aspect of adult and young as in 182.
status, distribution and habitat. Resident in the lower Himalayas
of West Pakistan at <r. 450 to 900 m. altitude, chiefly in the area between
the Punjab Sait Range and the Indus river. No habitat preference except
that like the nominate race it nests exclusively on precipices.
so
306 FALCON I FORMES
general kabxts. Same as of the Whitebacked and other large vultures.
food. Carbon exclusively.
voice and calls. Not specifically recorded,
breeding, ^Apparently only known from the Kala Chita Reserve in
Campbcllpur dist , W. Pakistan, Season, january-February. a scanty
pad of sticks and twigs with leaves attached, and dry grass, built on ledges
of a * whitewashed 5 cliff face in a scattered colony. Egg, a singleton, pure
white. Average size of 7 eggs 92 6 x 68 ’8 mm. (Baker). No other details
recorded.
Museum Diagnosis. Larger than the nominate race, with head and neck mete
thickly down-covered.
MEASUREMENTS
Wing Bill Tarsus Tail
(from forehead)
tf»$ 700-750 c. 71-74 r. 100-109 300-310 mm.
(depth at base
35-36 mm.)
(Baker)
colours of bare parts. As in the nominate race.
184. Himalayan Longbilled Vulture* Gyps indicus tenuirostris G. R. Gray
Gyps tenuirostris i Hodgson * = G. R. Gray, 1844, Genera of Birds, 1 : 6, pi. 3 (Nepal)
Gyps indicus nudiceps Baker, 1927, Bull. Brit. Orn. Gl., 47: 151 (New name for Gyps
tenuirostris Hume, Khatmandoo, Nepal)
Baker, FBI No. 1711, Vol. 5: 17
Plate 16, fig. 3, facing p. 288
local names. Sakun (Bengal) ; Hogun (Assam); Gut (Lepcha).
size. Whitebacked Vulture+i length c . 92 cm. (38 in.).
field characters. Adult and Young (immature) as in the Indian
race (182), but with the head and neck entirely bald and shiny.
status, distribution and habitat. Resident. The Gangetic Plain north
to and along the lower Himalayas from Kashmir through Nepal, Bengal
and Assam. Very common in eastern Assam and East Pakistan.
HA WILIS, VULTURES, ETC. 307
Extralimital . Burma, Malay Peninsula and Indochinese countries.
general habits. As of the Whitcbacked Vulture (185), q.v.
food. Carrion exclusively. While it would seem safe enough to tackle
dead or dying animals, some curious accidents to feeding vultures have
been reported. One got entrapped within the belly of a defunct horse;
another had its head caught inside the mouth of a moribund ox which it
had been too impatient to allow to die completely. The bird was found
in this predicament flapping its wings helplessly to free itself ! (Allen, JBNHS
26: 1045).
voice and calls. Nothing specifically recorded.
breeding. Contrary to the other two races, seems to nest exclusively
on trees. Season , November to end February. Nest, of sticks and twigs some*
times with leaves attached, rather more compact than of the two cliff-nesting
races, built 7 to 14 metres up in large leafy trees, such as silk cotton, banyan
and peepul; often several nests scattered over a small area, and frequently
near a village. Egg, a singleton, broad oval, unspotted white, sometimes
flecked and blotched with light reddish in varying degree* Average size of
100 eggs 84*7 X 63 -6 mm. (Baker). Both sexes share in all the domestic
chores. Incubation period unrecorded.
Chick (about a week old) : covered with yellowish brown down (E. H.
N. GUI).
Museum Diagnosis. Upper plumage usually darker and browner than in nominate
indicus. No hairy down on crown and nape; very little or none on neck. Bill slenderer;
with larger, more open nostrils.
MEASUREMENTS
Wing Bill Tarsus Tail
(from forehead)
590-630 66-68 r. 110 237-256 mm.
(Baker)
colours of bare parts. Iris dark brown. * Bill brownish dusky horny; cere
horny black; skin of head and neck dark muddy; tarsi and toes black; claws dusky
and homy black * (Hume).
185. Indian Whitcbacked Vulture. Gyps bengalensis (Gmelin)
Vuitur bmgalmis Gmelin, 1788, Syst. Nat., 1(1): 245 (Bengal)
Baker, FBI No. 1713, Vol. 5: 19
Plate 16, fig. 6, facing p. 288
local Names. Gidh (Hindi) ; Gidhdd (Marathi) ; Sakm (Bengal) ; M&tti p&dum-g&du
(Tdugu); Walhorya (Yerukali); K&zhukdn (Malayalam).
size. Peacock minus train ±; length c . 90 cm. (35 in.).
field characters. Adult. Heavy brownish black with naked scrawny
neck and head sunk into the shoulders while bird at rest. A white or whitish
ruff of soft feathers round base of neck, broken in front by a black crop*
patch. Sexes alike.
When perched, as well as in flight below eye level, or when banking
high up in the air, white lower back diagnostic. In overhead aspect a broad
whitish band along underside of wings distinguishes this species.
306 FALGQNIFORMES
Young (immature) » More brownish than black, without white back
or underwing bands. Head and neck more or less covered with dirty white
fluffy down. Impossible to distinguish with certainty in the field from
Longbilled Vulture, with which it is commonly associated over most of
its range.
status, distribution and habitat. Resident; our commonest vulture*
Found more or less throughout the area from W, Pakistan (Baluchistan)
east through Assam and Manipur; south from Kashmir and along the
Himalayas between c. 1500 and 2500 m. elevation (including Nepal),
through the Peninsula to Kanyakumari. Not Ceylon. Where absent or rare
in pure desert facies a few years ago, e.g. Sind, Punjab, and Rajasthan,
now well established and expanding with advent of river barrages, canal
cultivation, populous villages with livestock, and trees for nesting.
ExtralimitaL East to Yunnan, south to Siam, and Cochinchina [S. Viet
Nam], Malay Peninsula to Penang (Peters).
general Habits. Usually seen in small groups, commonly in association
with the Longbilled and other vultures, perched hunched-up on tree-tops
and palms on the countryside, on roofs or walls in the vicinity of slaughter-
houses, municipal refuse dumps, and outskirts of villages and habitations.
Favourite roosts and the ground underneath become besmirched and reeking
with the birds’ acrid excreta, presenting a sepulchral whitewashed appear-
ance, which kills off the trees if too long patronized. And in this way vultures
sometimes become a serious local nuisance in coconut groves, mango
orchards, forest plantations, etc.
Though a repulsive creature at close quarters, a vulture gliding majesti-
cally in the sky on outspread motionless wings looks the embodiment of
grace and buoyancy. Unless busy feeding, or fully gorged and grounded,
they spend most of the day scouting the countryside for food, covering im-
mense distances in the quest. Or they will soar for hours on end and circle
aloft in the sky with no other apparent motive than fun. Their eyesight
is remarkably keen yet perhaps less phenomenal than popularly believed.
That they are so quick to discover a carcase on the countryside, even though
hidden under forest, and to gather at it from almost nowhere in such an
incredibly short time, is usually due not so much to keenness of sight directly
as to the low-flying birds being guided by the movement of crows, village dogs
and jackals. These birds in turn are being watched by their fellows in the
air above, and so on, till from tier to tier the message reaches the tiniest
speck in the heavens. When following one another down to a carcase some
birds make a wide spiral descent while others hurtle down through space
more or less perpendicularly, wings half pulled in, legs dropped and dang*
ling. Even while still quite high up in the air this dropping of the * under-
carriage ’ clearly proclaims a bird’s intentions. No less astonishing is the
speed and thoroughness with which a party of vultures will demolish the
largest carcase. A mixed rabble of 60 to 70 birds (mostly of this species,
and including a few kites and crows) was timed to strip the skinned carcases
of two sloth bears weighing not less than 125 kg. so thoroughly in the space
of about 40 minutes that late comers at this stage had to stand around
disappointed (Salim Ali). In another case a mixed pack of this with a few
Fulvous and King Vultures was timed to finish off a whole bullock in about
HAWKS; VULTURES, ETC. 3t»
20 minutes (T. R. Bell)* This activity is attended by incessant jostling and
squabbling amongst the feaaters to a great deal of raucous braying, screech-
ing and hissing as one bird jumps on another’s back to dislodge it from a
coign of vantage, or deprive it of a gobbet of flesh. The combatants often
spread out their wings and prance around, ludicrously tugging at the
morsel with their beaks at either end. In order to take off from the ground,
vultures are obliged to run and hop along for some distance against the
wind aided by powerful wing-flaps. When fully gorged they are sometimes
totally unable to get airborne, and often have to spend the night on the
ground. Occasionally they feed throughout the night, whether moonlit or
dark. It has been suggested, possibly with some truth, that vultures properly
gorged can go without a meal for several days. Such a facility could be
of distinct survival value to birds which must frequently have to face feast-
and-famine conditions.
In spite of foul feeding habits which often entail the head, neck and other
parts becoming besmeared with gore, the Whiteback like the other large
vultures is a comparatively cleanly bird and misses no opportunity for a
bath. The birds wade into shallow water and douse themselves with the
customary head-dipping, wing-fluttering and plumage-shuffling, drying
themselves in the sun afterwards with open wings, like a cormorant. Possibly
dependence on thermal currents contributes to their being late risers;
individuals may frequently be seen fast asleep on a branch with head tucked
under the wing till the sun is well up in the morning.
food. Exclusively carrion.
voice and calls. Raucous, strident, creaky screeches or ‘ laughter '
kakakaka while one bird is supplanting another at a carcase or roost. Long-
drawn grating noises, as of a hoe being scraped over a cement floor, uttered
by female during copulation.
breeding. Season , principally October to March. Nest, a large untidy
platform of sticks and twigs often with green leaves attached, with a shallow
central depression lined with green leaves. Leafy twigs collected from living
tree by bird (<? ?) tugging at it with bill, assisted by vigorous wing-flapping.
Nest built r. 10 to 18 m. up at or near the top of a large banyan or peepul
(Pints bengalensis or F. religiosa) , mango (Mangifera indica ), sheesham (Dal-
bergia sissoo or Z>. latifolia), casuarina, or similar tree growing in or near a
village, or lining a road or canal bank. Sometimes in scattered colonies of
up to 25 or 40 nests in a grove or small patch of forest. Nest added to
and enlarged as the young occupant gets older and heftier (C. M. Inglis).
Egg, normally a singleton, very rarely 2, thick-shelled, glossless white
unmarked, or variably and faintly so with reddish brown, grey-brown, or
lavender. Average size of 1 00 eggs 85 • 8 x 64 • 2 mm. (Baker) . Both sexes share
in all the domestic chores. Incubation period about 45 days. Nest young fed
on regurgitated gobbets of flesh. Several foraging birds of a colony often
return together with food in spectacular high-flying armadas, sometimes
over enormous distances. Copulation takes place dose to the nest and
often actually on it while the female is incubating; sometimes during moonlit
nights. During the act the female flattens herself on the perch with neck
stiffly stretched forward, uttering the harsh scraping screams. Male balances
himself on her back with heavy flapping and performs with distinct jerks
310 FALCON! FORMES
and pushes. One of a pair shot at nest brought a new mate on the 5th day,
unless both the birds were new (Salim All). Breeding has been^ observed
in Immature plumage (A. E. Jones),
Museum Diaonosis. For details of plumage see Baker, loc. cit.
Chick (in down). 1 Down covers whole body except a track from base of
neck broadening to vent. Down of head and neck shorter than the test. Mouse-grey
in colour except darker patches to the uropygium and along ulnar border. Cere
and base patch round eye blue-lead * (C. B. Ticehurst).
MEASUREMENTS
Wing Bill Tarsus Tail
(from forehead)
6*9 535-578 71-81 108-124 217-232 mm.
(Baker)
Middle toe and daw 121-136 mm.
The figures for bill and tarsus given above are erroneous as pointed out by
Biswas (JBNHS 57 : 290, 1960). A specimen ( 9 ) from Nepal measured by him gave
wing 555, bill (from nostril) 62, tarsus 94, tail 238 mm. A young non-breeding
male from Nepal measured wing 590 mm. (Ripley). Wing 557-608 mm. (Kirke-
Swann) .
colours of bare parts. Iris yellowish brown or pale brown. Bill dark plumbe-
ous or greenish plumbeous; culmen greyish or yellowish white; cere shining homy
black. Naked skin of head and neck dusky plumbeous. Legs and feet greenish
plumbeous to almost black (Baker).
Genus Neophron Savigny
Neophron Savigny, 1809, Descr. Egypte, Ois., 1: 68, 75 and 76. Type, by mono-
typy, Vultur percnopterus Linnaeus.
Bill slender, long; cere and culmen straight at first, greatly hooked at tip. Nostrils
elongate, horizontal, slit-like. Crown, sides of head, chin, throat and upper foreneck
naked. Neck surrounded by a ruff of lanceolate hackle-like feathers extending up
to the nape and round all the lower part of the neck; crop naked. Wings long and
pointed; 3rd primary (as.) longest. Tail graduated; wedge-shaped. 3rd and 4th
toes united by a web over the length of the basal phalange. Claws rather long,
straight, and sharp.
The genus extends over the southern Palaearctic Region, Africa, and W. Asia.
Neophron percnopterus (Linnaeus)
Key to the Subspecies
Bill dark horny-blackish at all ages N. p. percnopterus
Bill yellow in adults N p. gingirdanus
186. Egyptian Vulture. Neophron percnopterus percnopterus (Linnaeus)
Vultur Percnopterus [sic] Linnaeus, 1758, Syst. Nat, ed. 10, 1; 87 (Egypt)
Baker FBI No. 1714, Vol. 5: 22
LOCAL NAMES. S&fed gidh , Kol murghdb (Hindi) ; HU (Sind).
size. Pariah Kite ±; length c. 66 cm- (26 in.).
HAWKS, VULTURES, ETC. 311
field characters. A small, rather kite-iike vulture with naked head
but without the long scrawny neck.
Adult. Overall dirty white (except for black wing-quills) with naked
yellow head, face, and foreneck. In this race biU dark homy at all ages v.
yellow in adult ginginianus. Sexes alike*
In overhead aspect white with wedge-shaped tail and broad black apex
and trailing edge to pointed wings.
Young (immature). Blackish or chocolate-brown mottled with whitish
blotches on back, breast, and greater wing-coverts. Many other inter-
mediate colour phases during gradual transition to adult white plumage.
In overhead aspect looks like some eagle, but longer, narrower, wings
and wedge-shaped tail always diagnostic. Also very like L&mmergeier, but
is much smaller.
STATUS, distribution and habitat. Resident and partial altitudinal
migrant; from plains level to c. 2500 metres in West Pakistan (Baluchistan,
Sind, NWF. Province, W. Punjab) and NW. India (Kashmir, Punjab,
Himachal Pradesh) possibly straggling into U.P., Kutch, W. Rajasthan,
etc. Due to paucity of collected material and reliable specific observation,
status of the two races impossible to unravel accurately. Probably both
occur together and interbreed over large marginal areas in the north-west.
Affects the neighbourhood of human habitations.
Extralimital. * S. Europe north to S. France, Bukowina and S. Russia,
east to Turkestan, Afghanistan and NW. India; south to Morocco, Egypt
(and thence to S. Africa), Arabia, Persia, Sind, Canary and Cape Verde
Islands’ (Peters).
general habits. As in the commoner Indian race (187), q.v. Occurs
in summer up to c. 2500 metres in the hills of N. Baluchistan, NWFP and
Punjab between March and September; descending to lower levels for the
winter. Also in Himachal Pradesh and Kashmir, where recorded in the
lidar Valley in summer as high as e. 3600 m. (R. S. P. Bates).
food. Chiefly carrion and offal as in 187.
voice and galls. Unrecorded.
b&eeding.. Up to elevations of c. 2600 metres. Season , principally February
to April. Nest , eggs , and other details as in No. 187, Average size of 100
1 Indian * eggs 65*2 X 51*2 mm. (Baker).
Museum Diagnosis. Larger than N. p. ginginianus . For other differences between
the races see Whistler 1922, Ibis : 414; for description of plumages etc. of nominate
race, Baker, loC. cit ; Witherby 1939, 3: 105-6.
MEASUREMENTS
•
Wing
Bill
(from cere)
Tarsus
Tail
<?(?
470-520
31-34
75-88
220-260 mm.
99
*
460-510
—
—
(Witherby)
COLOURS
Off BARB PART*.
Iris yellow or
dark brown. Bill dinky black; cere
reddish yellow. Naked parts of head yellow. Legs and feet dusky * yellow; claws
black (Baker).
312 FALCONIFORMES
187. hAittSctvtnger V«iltm. Neophron permopterus ginginianus (Latham)
Vultur ginginianus Latham, 1790, Index Cm., 1:7
(Gingee, Coromandel, ex Sonnerat)
Baker, FBI No. 1715, Vol. 5; 23
Plate 6, fig. Si {ftdaf p. 113
LOCAL NAMES. SaJU gidh, K&l miergh (Hindi) ; Swet sakun (Bengal) ; Got gidh (Bihar);
Telia bordwd, Peethiri gddda (Telugu) ; Thotti kdzkhukdn (Malayalam) ; Mdnjdl thir&di
(Tamil) ; * Pharaoh's Chicken \
size. Pariah Kite; length t. 61 cm. (24 in.).
field characters. As for No. 186 only slightly smaller. This race more-
over has the bill yellow in adults as against dark homy at all ages in the
nominate form.
Young (immature). Differs from young of perenopterus only in smaller
size.
status, distribution and habitat. Resident. All India (except the
portions in the NW. occupied by nominate perenopterus) from r. 2000 m.
up along the Himalayas locally, including Nepal, south to Kanyakumari,
east to Bihar and western part of W. Bengal. Not E. Pakistan or Assam.
Rare vagrant to Ceylon. Affects the drier peninsular hills (up to c . 2000 m.,
e.g. in the Nilgiris) and plains in the neighbourhood of human habitations.
x
general habits. A useful scavenger, invariably keeping to the neigh*
bourhood of human settlements whether town, village, or shifting encamp-
ment of gypsies, pilgrims, or herdsmen. Here seen perched on mounds,
ruined buildings and the like, or sauntering about on the grpnnd — body
held horizontal like a duck's and with a ludicrous, waddling, * goose-step-
ping’ gait — looking for food. Flight buoyant, easy and graceful, wings
held level with body. Spends much time gliding aloft, but seldom at very
great heights. Not gregarious; usually seen in twos and threes, but numbers
will gather where prospects of food are promising, often associating with
kites, crows, and other vultures at animal carcases and municipal refuse
dumps.
FOOD. Carrion, offal and garbage, and to a large extent human ordure,
Occasionally takes frogs and large crickets on grassland; in one case Bra-
ckfttypes achatinus (Mason 3c Lefroy). Also winged termites emerging from
the ground (CL E. Fischer).
HAWKS, VULTURES, ETC. SIS
voice and calls* Very silent Unrecorded,
breeding. Season , February to May, chiefly March and April. JVart, a
filthy, shabby platform of twigs, lined with rags, matted hair, scraps of
mammals’ skin, and other rubbish including sometimes dried dung of
carnivores* Placed on a ledge or cornice, or in a niche, on cliffk, dilapidated
mosques, tombs and other buildings or crumbling walls and battlements
of ancient forts. Sometimes in the fork of a large banyan, pccpui, or similar
tree r. 4 to 6 metres up. The same sites are occupied year after year, the
old nests being renovated by additions to the remnants. Old eagles’ nests
occasionally utilized. Exceptional sites recorded (1) on the ground at the
base of a tree in the Ganges khadar (W. P. Payntcr), and (2) on top of a
termite mound c. 1*5 metres high islanded in the waterspread of a small
irrigation tank (C. H* Biddulph). Eggs, 2, incongruously handsome for so
unlovely a bird, varying in coloration from white to pale brick-red, blotched
with reddish brown or blackish, rather densely at the broad end. Indis-
tinguishable from those of the nominate race, only smaller. Average size
of 100 eggs 64*3 X 49*3 mm. (Baker). Both sexes share all the domestic
chores. Incubation period believed to be about 42 days. Incubating bird
sits very close, but does not demonstrate against nest robber once disturbed
off nest.
Museum Diagnosis. Smaller than nominate race with bill always yellow in adult.
MEASUREMENTS
Wing Tarsus Middle toe and claw Tail
c? 9 443-482 72-85 73-85 228-251 nun.
(Baker)
Bill (from cere) 31-35 mm.
Paucity of skins in Indian collections docs not permit checking the above figures,
but it may be pointed out that a recent specimen from Nepal (sex?) measured:
wing 434; bill from skull 57 ; tail 2 10 mm. (Biswas), showing a considerable divergence
from Baker's figures.
colours of bare farts. Bill in adults yellow. Skin of head yellow with no red
tinge. Legs, feet and claws paler, otherwise as in 186.
miscellaneous. The Hindu hill temple at Thirukalikundram, some 55
km. from Madras, enjoys countrywide fame and added sanctity by virtue
of two Neophron vultures that come there every day punctually between
1 1 a.m, and noon to be fed by the presiding priest. This is alleged to have
been going on for * centuries *, and the birds are alleged to commute daily
froiti Banaras (the Himalayas, according to some). The feast consists of
balls of rice and wheat flour mixed with sugar and ghee, therefore, in effect,
the very opposite extreme of the bird’s natural food preference ! That the
sacred birds travel the 1,300-odd kilometres (or perhaps twice that distance)
dally; and the many other myths and legends that have snowballed around
this circumstance, perhaps need an extra dose of credulous piety to believe;
nevertheless there are a number of curious anomalies in this connexion
Which challenge a scientific explanation. For instance, when the Neophron
is such a common species in the Madras area, and numbers must often
fly over this particular temple in their normal scouting for food, why is it
that only two birds and no more come down to the proffered meal ? Secondly,
since Neophrons are not immortal, a replacement must become necessary
314 FALCON IFOR MRS
from time to time over the * centuries \ By what process does this take
place in, such a, way that continuity is not disturbed and the two visitors
always remain two? A suggestion by the Bombay Natural History Society
a few years ago to mark the birds for a rational investigation did not find
favour with devout vested interests, so the mystery remains unsolved*
Genus Gypaetus Storr
Gypaetus Storr, 1784, Alpenreise: 69. Type, by monotypy, Gypaetus grandis Storr =*
Vultur aureus Hablizl
Bill moderately high, compressed, much hooked at end; culmen curved through-
out. Nostrils ovals, longitudinal; concealed by long black bristles directed forwards
from the cere and lores. Another beard-like tuft of black bristles depending per-
pendicularly from chin. Tarsi feathered to toes; feet fairly strong with moderate
daws, blunt and well curved. Wings long and very pointed. Third primary (as-
cendant) longest; 1st primary between 5th and 6th. Tail of twelye feathers, long
and very much graduated.
Genus monotypic; found in the mountains oFSE. Europe, Africa east to S. Arabia
and the Himalayas.
188. Himalayan Bearded Vulture or Lammergeier. Gypaetus barbatus
aureus (Hablizl)
Vultur aureus Hablizl, 1783, Neue Nord. Beytr., 4:64
(Province of Gilan, northern Persia)
Gypaetus hemachalanus Hutton, 1838, Jour. As. Soc. Bengal, 7:22 (Himalayas)
Gypaetus altaicus Sharpe, 1874, Cat. Bds. Brit. Mus., 1:229 ex Gebler, 1840, Bull.
Soc. Acad. St. Petersb., 6: 292 (Altai)
Baker, FBI No. 1716, Vol. 5: 26
Plate 6, fig. 6, facing p. 112
local names. Argul (Hindi, about Mussooree) ; Okhab (Giiamba). Commonly
miscalled * Golden Eagle \
size. Himalayan Griffon +, but less massive and with longer tail;
length c. 122 cm. (c. 48 in.). Wing span (tip to tip) c . 275-285 cm* (9 ft*
to 9 ft. 4 in.).
field characters. A handsome eagle-like vulture with feathered head
and neck, and longish wedge-shaped tail.
Adult . Above, head and neck creamy or rusty white; rest of upperparts
silvery grey and black, streaked with white* Below , pale rusty white* A tuft
of black bristle-like feathers — the beard — pendant under chin and
conspicuous in profile. Legs fully feathered* Sexes alike*
In overhead aspect like an oversize Neophron. Long and comparatively
narrow pointed wings, and longish wedge-shaped tail readily distinguish
it from Himalayan Griffon, and from eagles.
Young (immature). Very dark brown, with almost black head and black
goatee as in adult.
status, distribution and habitat. Resident. A purely northern mount-
ain form, fairly common in Baluchistan and Sind, and throughout thcHitn**
layas from NWFP, Ladakh and Kashmir east through Nepal and Bhutan
HAWKS, VULTURES, ETC. SIS
to NE. Assam. Also recorded in N. Cachar hilb. Normally between c, 1200
and 4000 metres elevation; rarely lower. Observed by the Everest expedi-
tions soaring at between 7200 and 7500 metres.
Extralimital* Mountains of SE. Europe (Alps etc.), islands in the Medi-
terranean Sea, east to N. China and south to S. Arabia (and the Himalayas)
— Peters.
x c. i
general habits. Usually seen quartering the mountain slopes and
valleys, sailing majestically on outstretched motionless wings with hardly
ever a wing-beat, hugging the contours and cliff-faces or soaring at immense
heights. A loud droning of the wings, as of some gigantic wasp, is heard as
a bird sweeps past the observer, and also a peculiar tmrr sound (produced
by primaries?) as it sails low overhead. In spite of great size and weight,
bird capable of taking off the ground without a preliminary run. Often
scavenges around mountain villages and municipal refuse dumps at Hima-
layan hill stations and cantonments, walking about with an eagle-like gait
and picking up scraps, or swooping from the air like a kite to snatch them
in its talons. Its method of breaking large bones which, together with the
marrow (?), form part of its normal diet is well known and reliably authen-
ticated. The bone, which may be the femur of an ox, is carried up in the
claws to a height of some 50 or 70 metres and dropped on rocks below —
often at regular selected spots or 4 ossuaries * — the bird retrieving the bone
to repeat the process if necessary till it splinters, whereupon it will descend
to the ground and leisurely swallow the pieces. On approach of the breeding
season pairs indulge in spectacular aerobatics, flapping their wings, chasing
one another, and indulging in mock fights. One bird will swoop at the other
which dexterously turns over on its back to parry the attack with its talons.
With claws thus interlocked and wings half-closed, the two tumble or ‘ cart-
wheel 1 rapidly through space to the accompaniment of a sharp guttural
koelik, koolik, separating only when a few metres from the ground. They
may then either rise again to repeat the performance or soar aloft and sail
away.
816 FALCONIFOltMES
food. Carrion and pieces of bone. Often feeds at wayside animal car*
cases and refesc dumps in company with Griffons, Neophrons and ravens;
but timid and keeping aloof until coast dear. In spite of allegations,
never known to attack any living animal.
voice and calls. Normally silent except in courtship display, as above.
Hungry nestling (about size of small goose) uttered * a curious shrill squeak ’ ;
occasionally * a kind of quack ’ when a few months older (Whistler).
breeding*. Breeds at elevations between c. 1200 and 4200 metres; some-
times higher. Season, December to February/March. J Vest, a huge pile of
sticks along with quantities of miscellaneous rubbish 6uch as sheep’s wool,
fragments of hairy mammal skins, and large desiccated bones. Placed on
an inaccessible ledge often under a rock overhang, or in a natural recess in a
sheer diff-faoe. Each pair usually has two or three alternative nest sites used
in irregular rotation; Eggs, normally 1 or 2; but three have been
recorded. Pale cteamy yellow or pale rusty orange to deep reddish buff,
variably mottled or blotched with reddish brown. Average size of 60 eggs
85 0 X 67-4 mm. (Baker), Share of the sexes in the domestic chores, and
period of incubation, unrecorded.
Museum Diagnosis. For details of plumage see Baker, loc. cit. ; for description
of chick in down and changes with growth Whistler 1912, JBNHS, 21: 663-5;
P. T. Dodsworth 1914, ibid., 22 : 801 .
MEASUREMENTS
Wing Bill Tarsus Tail
(from feathers)
726-890 74-85 86-95 440-555 mm.
Mid toe and claw 95-102 mm. (Baker)
colours op bare parts. Iris: outer ring scarlet, inner ring khaki. * Pale to
blood-orange, the sclerotic membrane blood red * — Baker. Bill homy brown,
greenish plumbeous at base, blackish at tip. Feet grey; claws plumbeous.
miscellaneous. Meat of the L&mmergeier highly prized by the hill people,
and not only by the low castes ; the birds are killed with spears at tethered
chukor baits (! ?) — F. Stoliczka, 1868, Jour. Asiat . Soc. Bengal : 37.
Genus Circus Lac^pede
Circus Lac6p6de, 1799, Tabl. Ois. : 4. Type, by subsequent designation, Falco
aeruginosus Linnaeus (Lesson, Man. d’Orn., 1 : 105)
Contains slender, elegant, long-winged, long-tailed raptors — the harriers —
readily distinguished by shape and flight. A more or less conspicuous ruff of dose-set
toil feathers extending across throat and up each side of neck behind ear-covert*.
Bill weak and compressed; culmen curved from base to tip; a small festoon present.
Nostril large, broadly oval, overhung by loral bristles. Wing long and pointed :
3rd primary (ascendant) longest; 1st about equal to 6th or 7th. Tail long, square
or slightly rounded. Tarsus long, slender, feathered next the thigh only; covered
with transverse shields in front, smaller polygonal scales behind. Toes slender, with
sharp well-curved daws.
Oenut found throughout the temperate and tropical regions. Five species occur
in our limits in winter; only one rarely breeding.
HAWKS, VULTURES, ETC.
K my to tfe# Specks
A Outer webi of 2nd, 3rd, and 4th primaries o nty, notched. 1
8 Outer webi of 2nd to 5th primaries notched. 2
1 Tarsus over $6 mm C. macrourus
Tarsus under 66 mm C. fiygargus
2 Bill from cere to tip over 29 mm C. aetugimsus
Bill from cere to tip under 29 mm ,a
a Upperparts ashy C. cyaneus (ad. <f )
Upperparts to rump black C. melanoleucos (ad. c?)
Upperparts brown with paler edgings I
I Upper tail-coverts pure white C. cyaneus (ad, 9 )
Upper tail-coverts not all white a 1
a 1 Coverts along forearm white or buff .
C. melanoleucos (ad. $ )
Coverts along forearm brown a #
a* Abdomen buff with dark stripes C. cyaneus (juv.)
Abdomen rufous-brown C. melamUucos (juv.)
917
Page
319
321
324
317
323
317
323
317
323
189. Hen Harrier. Circus cyaneus cyaneus (Linnaeus)
Falco cyaneus Linnaeus, 1766, Syst. Nat., ed. 12, 1: 126
(Europe, Africa *» vicinity of I -on don, England, ex Edwards, pi. 225)
Baker, FBI No. 1792, VoL 5: 131
local names. Same as for 190.
size. Kite — ; slimmer. Length c . 46-54 cm. (18-21 in.).
field characters. Male (adult). Like Pale Harrier (190) but darker
ashy grey above, this colour extending over chin, throat, and upper breast
which are white in 190. Often a distinct brown-streaked white nuchal patch.
Upper tail-coverts pure white v . banded grey and white in Pale.
In flight blunter, rounder black- tipped wings v . more pointed in Pale,
is with a little practice a further and infallible differentiating character
(Meinertzhagen) .
Female. Dark brown above, brown-streaked below. Indistinguishable
from Montagu’s and not with certainty from Pale, but conspicuously broader
white rump-patch suggestive. A light buff collar frequently visible as bird
flies past.
Young (immature). Underparts rufous-buff, broadly striated with dark
brown. Ruff well developed.
status, distribution and habitat. Rather uncommon winter visitor
and/or passage migrant, September to April /May, in NW. Pakistan
[Baluchistan (Quetta dist.) and NWFP (Rawalpindi, Chitral, Kohat
dists.)] and northern India (Gilgit, Kashmir, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh,
Nepal) east to Upper Assam (N, Lakhimpur dist.). Probably the commonest
harrier in the Sikkim Himalayas. Affects open undulating plains and
cultivated country, Himalayan foothills and up to c. 2500 metres elevation.
ExtralimtaL ‘ Breeds in Europe north to the Arctic Circle (casually further)
and in Asia south of the tundra, east probably to the Lena River; south to
318 FALCONIFORMES
the Pyrenees, Italy, Turkestan, and Tibet; Waiters in the region about the
Mediterranean, NE. Africa, N. India, Burma, China, Japan ( ?) * — * Peters*
general habits. Very similar to those Of the Pale Harrier (190), q.v*
Perhaps somewhat more given to soaring. During spring and autumn migra-
tions found sit great heights in the Punjab Himalayas; observed at 5000
metres and above beating over the barren hillsides, chasing accentors and
finches (Donald).
M P H
Primaries of (M) Montagu’s Harrier ( Circus pygargus), (P) Pale Harrier
(C. macrourus), (H) Hen Harrier (C. cyaneus ) to show differences in wing
formula and emarginations. In P and H primary-coverts are pushed
aside to show emargination of 2nd visible primary, which they normally
conceal, whereas in M this emargination is exposed. 5th visible primary
in M and P is not emarginated and short; in H it is emarginateo
and longer
food. As of the genus: lizards, young rodents, sickly or nestling birds,
grasshoppers, etc. Known to carry off snipe falling to shot. Among remains
of small birds in stomachs of specimens, the following specifically identified:
Common Babbler { Turdoides caudatus ), Skylark ( Alauda $p») and Bustard
Quail ( Turnix sp.) — Whistler* One shot while carrying off a chicken
(Biddulph); another seen demolishing a hoopoe (Stevens).
votes and calls. Unrecorded. Very silent in winter; more vocal when
breeding*
breeding. Extralimital. Season, May-June. Nest, on ground in heather,
grass and reeds about swamps, or on exposed hillsides. Eggs , 6 to 8, white.
HAWKS, VtJttURES* ETC. SI9
Museum Diagnosis. First 6 primaries in male black. Outer webs of 2nd to 5th
quails (as.) notched; upper tail-coverts pure white an both sexes. For details erf
plumage etc. see Withcrby 1939, 3 j 69-70.
MEASUREMENTS
Wing
Bill
(from feathers)
Tarouf
Tail
&&
341-357
23-25
69-74
219-221 mm.
99
375-392
27-29
71-78
246-255 mm.
(Baker)
colours or barb paints ‘ Iris & ad. bright orange-yellow; 9 ad. gamboge
yellow; i mm. brown. Rest as in 190.
190. Pale Harrier. Circus macrourus (S. G. Gmelin)
Falco macrourus S. G. Gmelin, 1770, Reise d, Russl., th. 1: 48
(Voronezh, southern Russia)
Baker FBI No. 1790, Vol. 5: 129
Plate 10, fig. 10, facing p. 192
local names. Bdstmal , Girgit mar y Pattai (Hindi); Math ckecl (Bengal); Telia
ehappa gddda , Pilli gddda (Telugu); Poondi pdrundu (Tamil); Kurndu goya, Ukassa
(Sinhala); Daoling wahlai (Cachari).
Size. Kite - ; slimmer; length c , 46-SI cm. (18-20 in,.).
field characters. A slender, elegant grey-and-wh|$e hawk.
Ma 1 e (adult). Pale ashy grey above, pure white below, with black tips
to the long narrow pointed wings. The last particularly conspicuous in the
low sailing flight when wings held in a flat V above plane of body. Tail
relatively long, white cross-barred with grey.
Differentiated from male Hen Harrier (189) by paler grey coloration
(v. bluish grey) with pure white underparts and less pronounced rump
patch (greyish- or brownish white v . broad pure white). From Montagu’s
(191) by being likewise paler grey and lacking the diagnostic black trans-
verse wing-bar across secondaries.
Female. XJmbcr brown, with prominent pale rufous owl-like ruff;
inseparable from Montagu’s in
the field. Females of both these
species only doubtfully distingu-
ishable from 9 Hen Harrier by
smaller, less prominent white
rump patch.
Young (immature) . Abooe t
brown like female but the feathers
margined with pale rufous. Ruff
very distinct, unstreaked. Upper
tail-coverts pure white. Below >
rufous-buff with faint darker
rufous shafts on breast and flanks.
Indistinguishable with certainty from females and immature* of 189 and 191.
status, distribution and habitat. Common winter visitor to the entire
Indian Union including Andaman, Nicobar (?) and Laccadive islands.
9 x «. |
SJO PAL CON I FOR M RS
Roth. Pakistan*, Nepal, Ceylon, Maldives {?). From plains level up to c*
3000 metrea or higher in the Himalayas, and to the tops of the highest
peninsular hills (Dodabetta, Nilgiris, €. 2600 m.; Anaimudi, Anaimalais,
c. 2700 m.). In Ceylon a few non-breeding birds remain throughout summer
(Phillips). Affects plateaux and undulating foothills country— open grassy
hillsides, rolling downland, cultivation, stony semi-desert and scrub. Avoids
wooded tracts.
Extralimtd. * Breeds from the Baltic Sea provinces east to Tarbagatai
and the Tian Sham, south to Rumania, S. Russia and Ferghana. Winters
in Africa from the Sudan to Cape Province ; India, Ceylon, and Burma *
(Peters).
Great macrourus
migration. No ringing records. Influx commences in N. India already
by end August, the birds spreading to S. India and Ceylon by October/
November; mostly leaving again March/April. Autumn passisge dirough
NWFP (Kohat dist.) September to end November; spring passage February
till May (Whitehead & Magrath). Very common in and arOUtid Quetta
during spring passage between 15 March and 15 April (Marshall). Mostly
gone from N. India by end April. On migration passage congregates to
pass the night dotted about individually in a ploughed field or bare
open ground — a stream of single birds arriving at dusk and on into
darkness, and resuming the journey before daybreak. They do not fly in a
flock but strung out individually at varying distances behind one another,
sailing steadily or with purposeful wing-beats in a fixed direction, higher
up than in normal foraging; occasionally descending lower to hunt as they
work their way towards their destination.
I PhodiluK h. saturate, Hay Owl ((>09). 2 Bubo n. nif miens is, Forest Eagle-Owl 3 Otns h hit,
Collared Scops Owl (623). 4 Glauddium b. buJei, Collared Pig.nv Owlet (6 7 «V. 5 WnLLs
Jasciatus . Bond li s Hawk-Eagle (163). 6 htinaetus m. fmrni^r, Blark Eagle (172). 7 \hcrohien
caerulescem , Redbreasted Falconet (204). h ; nncronurt
hawks, vultures, etg. m
general habits. Not gregarious. Single birds spend the day tirelessly
quartering the countryside a metre or two above the ground, sailing lightly
and gracefully on outspread motionless wings, banking to skirt a bush,
* dipping to the hollow and rising to the mound % or skimming the tops of
the standing crops and grass. From time to time the bird checks dead
in its flight, wheeling almost double upon itself, swinging out its legs and
pouncing noiselessly on some unsuspecting quarry. If successful, it alights
to dispose of the victim on the spot before resuming the beat. When sated,
rests on the bare ground or on a clod or mound in preference to a bush or
tree. Roosts at night in the open, often in sizeable congregations and in
company with other harrier species in a ploughed field, fallow land, or
grassy swamp. The birds do not sleep huddled together but sit dotted about
individually a few metres from one another — sometimes each in a regular
4 form * of pressed-down grass as made by partridges.
food. Frogs, lizards, field mice, sickly or young ground-nesting birds,
grasshoppers, etc. A Tumix and remains of a sandgrouse (or partridge?)
taken among stomach contents of a specimen. No fish recorded in India,
but on migration across Red Sea from Africa to Europe harriers (species ?)
observed picking up flying fishes in their talons as they skimmed the water,
and eating them (W. P. Lowe 1940, Ibis ; 333).
voice and calls. Unrecorded. Very silent in winter,
breeding. Extralhnital, Nest, a bed of leaves and grass in a natural hollow
in the ground on a dry open meadow or on the edge of a swamp. Eggs,
4 or 5 white, usually spotted and blotched with reddish brown.
Museum Diagnosis, Outer webs of 2nd, 3rd, and 4th quills (as.) only notched.
Tarsus over 65 mm. long. For details of plumage etc. see Witherby 1939, 3: 71-2.
MEASUREMENTS
Wing
Bill
(from skull)
Tarsus
Tail
332-360
25-27
66-70
201-222 mm.
9 9
345-386
27-31
67-78
222-247 mm.
(SA)
colours of bare parts. Iris a d u 1 1 greenish yellow or yellow; j u v . brown. Bill
horny black, plumbeous at base of lower mandible; cere and gape lemon-yellow;
mouth greyish pink. Legs and feet pale chrome-yellow ; claws blade.
191. Montagu’s Harrier. Circus pygargus (Linnaeus)
Fnko Pygargus Linnaeus, 1758, Syst. Nat., ed. 10, 1: 89
(Europe England, ex Albin)
Baker, FBI No. 1791, Vol. 5: 130
LOCAL NAMES, M for 190.
size. Kite — ; slimmer; length c, 46-49 cm. (18-19 in.).
field characters. Male (adult). Like the Pale Harrier but upper-
parts darker ashy grey (more or less tinged with brown), the grey extending
to throat and breast. Rest of underparts white with chestnut shaft-stripes.
A narrow black transverse wing-bar across secondaries diagnostic at rest
and in flight. Rump greyish*
822 FALCONIFORMES
Female. Indistinguishable in the field from 9 Pale; from 9 Hen Harrier
only doubtfully by slightly narrower white rump-patch.
Young (immature). Somewhat darker and more richly coloured than
immature Pale Harrier, with the ruff indistinct; but not separable from
it in the field with certainty.
status, distribution and habitat. Winter visitor. Perhaps slightly less
common than Pale Harrier overall, but equally widely distributed over the
subcontinent. Occurs also in the Andaman and Laccadive islands, Ceylon
and the Maldives. Affects identical facies to 190.
Circus pygargus
Extralimital. * Breeds in England and through N. Europe (south of lat.
57°N.) and Asia to Turkestan, Altai, and NW. Mongolia; south to Spain.
NW. Africa, Italy and Rumania. Winters from Palestine to S. Africa,
India, Ceylon, and Assam * (Peters).
migration. As in 190. No ringing records.
general habits. Same as the Pale Harrier’s, the two frequently con-
fused in the field by observers.
food. As in 190.
voice and calls. Unrecorded. Very silent in winter.
breeding. Extralimital. Nest of grass and reeds on the ground in a
cornfield or on a bed of rushes near a swamp. Eggs, 4 to 6, bluish white
unmarked, or faintly blotched with light red.
Museum Diagnosis. Outer webs of 2nd, 3rd, and 4th primaries (as.) only notched,
as in 190. Most readily distinguished from Pale Harrier by shorter tarsus «— under
65 mm. long. For details of plumages etc. see Witherby 1939, 3 : 63-6.
HAWKS, VULTURES, ETC*
MEASUREMENTS
Wing Bill Tarsus
(from leathers)
<? 9 344-395 23-25 *. 55-45
The sexes do not differ in size.
colours op barb parts. As in Pale Harrier.
32ft
Tail
213-241 mm*
(Baker)
192. Pied Harrier* Circus melanoleucos (Pennant)
Falco melanoleucos Pennant, 1769, Ind. Zool. : 12, pi. 2 (Ceylon)
Baker, FBI No. 1793, Vol. 5: 132
Plata 11, fig. 10, facing p. 200
local names. Pahtitai (Hindi) ; Abldk pttdha (Nepal).
size. Kite— ; slimmer; length c. 46-49 cm. (18-19 in.).
field characters. Male (adult). A slim, handsome, black-and-white
hawk. Head, mantle, throat, and breast black. Rest of underparts and
rump white. Tail grey. Wings silvery grey broadly tipped with black
(primaries) and with a black band across them above (median wing-
coverts) .
Female. Dark brown above, pale fulvous-rufous below, with whitish
rump and some white on the nape. Doubtfully distinguishable in the field
from females of Pale and Montagu’s harriers except with much practice, by
its blunter, less pointed wings (as in Hen Harrier), and somewhat heavier
flight when flapping.
Young (immature). Above , darker than female with rufous edges to
head and neck feathers. Whitish nuchal patch and ruff prominent. But
field identification with certainty impossible.
status, distribution and habitat. Chiefly winter visitor to the eastern
parts of the subcontinent. Quite common in Manipur, Assam (where it
occasionally breeds), East Pakistan, W. Bengal, Bihar, Orissa and decreas-
ingly so down the eastern side of the Peninsula ; in small numbers to Ceylon.
Sparingly in Kerala, W. Madras (Nilgiri and Palni hills), Mysore (Londa
dist.), Madhya Pradesh (esp. eastern districts, e.g. Balaghat, Bhandara,
Bastar). Rare straggler or vagrant in Andhra Pradesh (Warangal dist.)
and Maharashtra (Bombay environs). Not recorded north of Bombay in
W. India, nor west of Nepal terai and Gorakhpur dist. in Uttar
Pradesh, though putatively seen at Lahore (Currie). Affects open expanses
of grassland, plain and hill (to c. 2100 metres — Kodaikanal). Also paddy-
fields and stubbles, and grassy margins of jheels.
Extralimital. ' Breeds from Lake Baikal east to Ussuriland and south to
Mongolia, N. China and the Amur region. Winters in E. India, Burma,
and S. China; Indochinese countries, Borneo and the Philippines 1 — Peters.
Breeds sparingly also in Assam and Burma.
general habits. Very similar to the Pale Harrier, q.v. Systematically
quarters the ground for food in low sailing flight Sometimes hovers stationary
for a few moments a metre or so above standing crops or reeds to investigate,
either pouncing on a quarry or resuming the beat. * When not hunting, male
324 FALCONIF0RMRS
always soared with tail tightly closed; female with tail spread out ' (Stan-
ford),
food. As of the other harriers — - frogs, lizards, mice, grasshoppers, etc.
Occasionally takes sickly birds or nestlings from ground nests, but normally
small birds do not regard it as a potential danger. Recorded eating a small
snake, and rowing young from nest of Pied Myna (Stumus contra )„
voice and calls. Normally silent. Unrecorded except for a loud six-
fold * chacking as of a magpie, uttered by female when nest containing
young approached (Stanford).
breeding. Mainly extralimital, but a few birds breed in the uplands of
Assam, e.g. in Dibrugarh dist. (Cripps), and evidently also in Cachar at
c. 600-900 metres (Baker), as recently found to do in Burma (Stanford).
Season , c, April to July ( ?). Nest, a rough pad of grasses placed a few centi-
metres above ground amongst pressed-down growing stems, in an open
expanse of grassland. Eggs , 4 to 6 (in Siberia), white, sometimes faintly
flecked with reddish. Average size of 28 Siberian eggs 43 ■ 6' X 34 *5 mm.
(Baker).
Museum Diagnosis. See key to the species. Outer webs of 2nd to 5th primaries
(as.) notched. For details of plumage Baker, loc. cit.
MEASUREMENTS
Wing Bill Tarsus Tail
(from feathers)
344-367 22-24 76-80 197-217 mm.
9 9 366-387 25-27 81-88 211-240 mm.
(Baker)
colours of bare parts. Iris, cT ad. bright lemon-yellow. Bill, upper mandible
and terminal half of lower blackish brown; rest of lower mandible plumbeous
tinged with greenish yellow at base; cere greenish yellow. Legs and feet orange-
yellow (in 9 somewhat duller and paler) ; claws black.
Circus aeruginosus (Linnaeus)
Key to the Subspecies
Abdomen dark or rufous-brown or rufous with dark stripes C. a. aeruginosus
Abdomen plain white, or buff with dark shaft-stripes C. a . spUonotus
193. Marsh Harrier. Circus aeruginosus aeruginosus (Linnaeus)
Falco aeruginosus Linnaeus, 1758, Syst. Nat,, ed. 10, 1: 91
(Europe, restricted type locality, Sweden)
Baker, FBI No. 1794, Vol. 5: 134
Plate 10, fig. 11, facing p. 192
local names. Kutar, Kulesir , Safed sifa (Hindi); Fan cheel, Tika bauri (Bengal) ;
Ukussa , Kurulla goya (Sinhala); Poondi pdrundu (Tamil); Karitappi (Malayalam).
size. Kite — ; length c. 54-59 cm. (21^*23 in.).
field characters, A predominantly marsh-frequenting harrier, more
heavily built than others of the genus, with broader and less pointed wings.
Male (adult). Dark brown with pale rufous head, neck and breast}
dark rufous below. With silvery grey tail and black-tipped silvery grey
wings.
HAWKS, VULTURES, ETC, 325
Female (adult) and You ng (immature). Rather like a dark chocolate-
brown Pariah Kite but dimmer, with a round (not forked) tail, and usually
a creamy buff cap on head and buff leading edge to wing at shoulders.
The majority of birds seen in India are in this plumage.
status, distribution and habitat. Winter visitor, September to April,
practically throughout the Indian Union, Andaman, Nicobar (?) and Lac-
cadive (?) islands. Both Pakistan*; Nepal. Chiefly low country and to c.
2000 metres elevation. Ceylon (all zones) ; Maidive Islands. In Ceylon some
non-breeding birds loiter throughout the summer (Phillips). This is doubtless
also the explanation for the young birds occasionally seen in Kashmir and
elsewhere in northern India as late (or as early?) as July. Affects jheels and
marshes, flooded paddyfields, etc.
ExiralimitaL * Breeds from S. Sweden and Denmark east to the Yenesei,
south to the Mediterranean, Turkestan, and Mongolia. In winter south to
Africa, India, Malay Peninsula, S. China, Japan, and Philippines * (Peters).
migration. No ringing data.
general habits. As of the other harriers, e.g. Pale Harrier (q.v.) but more
addicted to marshland and jheels. Sails leisurely a few metres above the
reed-beds on motionless wings, occasionally boosted by a few heavy flaps,
jinking suddenly in its flight from time to time and dropping into the reeds
to seize some prey. Unlike the other harriers spends a considerable part of
its time sitting about on the ground, on a canal bank, mound, or snag,
and is also more given to soaring aloft in the sky. In this the wings are held
in a wide V above the plane of the body. It is notorious for its habit of
making off with wildfowl — sometimes as large and heavy as itself — falling
to a sportsman’s gun with the utmost audacity, regardless of his shouts and
gesticulations.
food. Frogs, fish, field mice and voles, weakling or wounded birds,
large insects. Among stomach contents remains of lark # (Calandrella) and
redstart (Phoenicurus) have been specifically identified. Observed to take an
apparently unwounded moorhen ( Gallinula chloropus) among reeds by pounc-
ing on it repeatedly from the air (SA) ; also feeding on carrion (D’Abreu).
voice and calls. Very silent. Unrecorded in winter.
Breeding. Extralimital. Season , April to June. Nest, a mass of reeds and
rushes lined with grass; placed on the ground near a marsh. Eggs , 4-6,
unmarked white. A pair recorded to have bred successfully at Malezai, N.
Baluchistan, in 1940 (A. F. P. Christison). Presumptive or reported oc-
casional breeding in Kashmir and elsewhere in N. India not yet proven.
Museum Diagnosis. Outer webs of 2nd to 5th quills (inclusive) Botched. Bill from
cere to tip usually over 29 mm. Abdomen dark or rufous-brown, or rufous with dark
stripes. For details of plumage etc. see Baker, loc. cit.; Witherby 1939, 3: 59-61.
MEASUREMENTS
Wing
Bill
Tarsus
Tail
(from cere(?))
385-405
28-30
80-85
234-245 mm.
390-430
28-31
85-90
238-258 mm.
< (Baker)
In 29 9 measured by $A and H. Whistler bill (from skull) 36, 43 mm. ; tarsus 91,
96 mm.
326 FALCON I FOUMES
colour* or bare BARTS. Iris ad. hazel brown to dull golden; imm. brown.
Bill homy blacky plumbeous or greenish yellow at base and chin; cere yellow. Legs
and feet yellow to orange-yellow; claws homy black.
194. Eastern Marsh Harrier or Striped Harrier. Circus aeruginosus
spilonotus Kaup
Cirws spilonotus Kaup, 1847, Isis von Oken, col. 953 (Asia)
Baker, FBI No. 1795, Vol. 5; 135
logal names. Unrecorded.
size. Kite ; about same as 193.
field characters. Male (adult). Head black, mantle black with some
white mottling. Nape and throat white, heavily streaked with black; breast
and abdomen all white; rump white, lightly barred with black. Tail and
wings light grey; flight feathers blackish; underwing white.
Female. Dark brown, buffy white on head, throat, and nape, streaked
with dark brown on nape and lower throat. Underwing dark; rump not
noticeably lighter than back.
Bpth sexes readily distinguished from 193 by conspicuously striped nape
and throat, and white or whitish abdomen.
Young (immature). ‘Brown above, pale rufous below, streaked with
rufous brown; rump whitish * (Delacour & Mayr).
„ status, distribution and habitat. An eastern winter visitor, recorded
only from Assam (Cachar) and Manipur. Affects marshland.
general habits. As in 193.
food. Presumably as in the Marsh Harrier ; not specifically recorded.
voice and calls. Unrecorded.
breeding. Extralimital. Nest and eggs similar to those of 193.
Museum Diagnosis. Outer webs of 2nd to 5th primaries (inclusive) notched.
Bill from cere to tip over 29 mm. Abdomen plain white or buff with dark shaft-
stripes. For details of plumage see Baker, loc. cit.
MEASUREMENTS
Wing
Bill
(from cere( ?) )
Tarsus
Tail
384
29
91
224 mm.
99
406-420
31-32
91-95
244-256 mm.
(Baker)
Wing 385-425 ; 9 9 400-443 mm. (Kirke-Swann).
colours of bare parts. I ris golden yellow. Bill deep slaty, black at tip yellowish
at base and gape; cere dull yellow. Legs and feet pale yellow.
Genus Circa et us Vicillot
Cmaetus Vicillot, 1816, Analyse : 23. Type, by monotypy, * Jean-le-Blanc 9 Buffon
5=5 Falco galliots Gmelin
Bill moderate, greatly hooked and with the cuhnen much rounded. Nostril oval
and slightly oblique, the loral bristles growing over it in an upwards direction.
Wing long: 4th primary (ascendant) longest; 3rd and 5th only slightly shorter.
Primaries exceed secondaries by more than length of tarsus. Tarsi long, unfeathered
HAWKS, VULTURES, ETC. 827
except for c. 25 mm. next the tibia; covered all round with email iH-defroed
hexagonal imbricate scales. Toes short; the inner and outer toes about equal In
length. Claws short and not much curved.
No crest, but feathers of nape lengthened and lanceolate.
Genus chiefly African; one species extending to Europe and Asia as far east and
south as India.
195. Short-toed Engle. Circaetus gallicus gallicus (Gmelin)
Accipiter ferox, S. G. Gmelin, 1771, Novi Comm. Acad. Petrop., 15:422, pi. 10
(Astrakan, S. Russia). (Unidentifiable vide Mayr. E., 1944, Emu, 43:303).
Fako gallicus Gmelin, 1788, Syst. Nat., 1(1): 259 (France)
Baker, FBI No. 1764, Vol. 5: 93
Plata 14, flg. 4, facing p. 256
local names. Soampmaar (Hindi); Sdpmaril (Bengal); Malpatar (Kannada);
Pamuld gdddd (Telugu); Ondn koththi , Pambu pdrdndu (Tamil); Rawal (Wagri); Konda-
teU (Ycrukali).
size. Kite +5 length c . 63-68 cm. (25-27 in.).
field characters. A thick-set brown and white eagle with large greyish
owl-like head. Above , earthy brown. Below chin, throat, and upper breast
paler earthy brown; rest of underparts
white, barred with pale brown. Tail with
3 (or 4) dark bands, the terminal one
broadest. Sexes alike; female larger.
At close range and through glasses unfea-
thered legs, thick frowzy head with up-
wardly directed bristly feathers on face, and
wings reaching to end of tail, are diagnostic
pointers when bird at rest.
In overhead aspect thick-set outline,
silvery body and underwing contrasting with
darker head and throat, blackish primaries,
and dark crossbands in tail are suggestive.
Wings held in the same plane as body.
Young (immature). Confusingly variable
in coloration: from head and neck almost
white to brown, and from underparts whitish
buff with browner chin, throat, and breast,
to white spotted or striped with brown, and
other intermediate phases.
STATUS, DISTRIBUTION and HABITAT. ReSl-
X(.| dent. W. Pakistan, Nepal and practically
throughout the Indian Union (except
Assam), from c . 1000 metres elevation in the Himalayas south. Has been
observed as high as c. 2300 metres (Dharamsala — Donald). Not in Ceylon,
or E. Pakistan ( ?). Affects open cultivated plains, stony deciduous scrub and
foothills country, and semi-desert. Observed at Kodaikanal, r. 2100 m.
Extratitwtali Also breeds from C. Europe east to Turkestan and Mongolia
south to N. Africa, Persia and N. China. Migratory in northern parts of its
range. Winters chiefly in NE. Africa (Peters).
328
FALCONIPORMES
general habits. Usually seen singly soaring and circling high up in
the blue, or quartering the ground on outstretched motionless wings like
a harrier, 1 $ to 20 metres above scrub jungle and fields, for food. The
sailing flight is frequently interrupted by bouts of cumbrous hovering to
investigate prospects below more closely. Against strong wind will remain
stationary for minutes merely with slight manipulation in angle of wings
and tail. This often followed by a closing of the wings and spectacular,
almost vertical dive at high velocity, pulling out when dose to the ground
and pouncing on prey. The great heights from which these dives are exe-
cuted — in one case well over 400 metres — bespeaks a phenomenally
keen eyesight for the bird. Sometimes surveys its surroundings from perch
on tree-top or stake, swooping on any prey that comes into view; or walks
about on the ground like a buzzard picking up grasshopper nymphs,
termites, etc. One individual overhead when fired at and peppered with
small shot suddenly jinked and disgorged a 30 cm. long snake, but promptly
retrieved it in its talons in mid-air and complacently flew on despite further
peppering!
During breeding season much given to circling aloft in pairs and noisily
calling; and to remarkable tumbling and darting aerobatics.
food. Largely snakes including poisonous ones, and some of considerable
size (a Ptyas mucosus 150-180 cm. long recorded). The reptiles apparently
killed by seizing at the head and neck, the wriggling body often winding
itself round parts of the bird during the struggle. Among the species identified
in crops is Psammophis condanarus , a snake of which the first ever record for
Mysore was obtained via a Short-toed Eagle ! Also takes lizards (including
Varanus ), frogs, field rats, disabled birds and large insects, etc.
voice and calls. A loud, screaming, plaintive, rather kite-like cry
pieeou, pieeou uttered chiefly on the wing, and commonly in the breeding
season.
breeding. Season , December to March. Nest, comparatively small for
such a large eagle, of sticks and twigs with a deepish central depression some-
times lined with a little grass. Built in or at the top of a moderate sized tree
— neem ( Melia ), babool (Acacia) 9 kandi (Prosopis), sheesham ( Dalbergia ),
or other — standing in open country. Rarely on the ledge of a cliff or steep
river-bank. Egg, invariably a singleton in India — in Europe frequently
2 — pure white. Average size of 38 Indian-taken eggs 73*5 X 58*4 mm.
(Baker). Share of the sexes in nest-building unrecorded in India* Incubation
chiefly by female who is a very close sitter. Both parents feed the young.
Incubation period in Europe c. 47 days; young flies from nest in 70-75
days (Alauda, 21 : 86-127).
Museum Diagnosis. See under Genus. Toes and claws markedly short in propor-
tion to the bird. For details of plumages see Baker, loc. cit.
MEASUREMENTS
Wing
Bill
(from feathers)
Tarsus
Tia
cfdP
520-536
40-43
—
252-288 mm.
99
530-571
40-43
92-97
287-330 mm.
Bill from skull c 45-46, Q 9 47-53 mm.; tarsus 93-96, 9 9 94-96
mm. (SA)*
329
HAWKS, VULTURES, ETC.
colour* o* barb parts. Iris yellow or bright orange-yellow. Bill pale greyish
Utie^ darkest at rip ; cere whitish or pale plumbeous grey. Legs and feet dirty yellow*
ish white to greyish brown; claws black.
Genus Spilornis G. BL Gray
Spilomis G. R. Gray, 1840, List Gen. Birds: 3. Type, by original designation,
Falco bido Horsfield (vide Stresemann, E., 1959, Jour. f. Ora,, 100: 35)
Haematorms Vigors, March 1832 (1831), Proc. zool. Soc. London, pt. 1: 170.
Not Haernatomis Swainson, Feb. 1832 (Turdidae).
Cf. Meise, W., 1939, J. f. O., 87: 65-74.
Distinguished from other Indian accipi trine genera by having a broad nuchal
crest covering the whole nape. Coloration also peculiar, brown both above and below
in adults, lower plumage ocdlafed with round white spots. Bill rather long, well
hooked; festoon on upper mandible obsolete or wanting. Nostrils oval, oblique;
lores nearly naked. Wings short and rounded; 4th or 5th primary (as.) longest.
Tarsus (naked, covered with hexagonal scales), toes, and daws as in Circartus,
Genus confined to Oriental Region. One species occurs within our limits.
Spilornis cheela (Latham)
Key to the Subspecies
A Pale wing-bar next to tips of primaries much narrower than dark bars
on cither side of it S. c. elgini
B Pale wing-bar next to tips of primaries broader than the adjoining
dark interspace 1
1 Wing under 260 mm S. c. klossi
Wing over 260 mm. but under 300 mm S.c. minimus
Wing over 300 mm. but under 405 mm S. c. spilogaster
Wing over 405 mm a
a Tail in adults with two broad pale bands S. c. melanotis
Tail in adults with one broad band of white or pale brown I
I Darker; white spots on lower plumage with conspicuous black
spots on either side S. c. cheela
Paler; white spots larger but with less conspicuous black spots
on either side S. c. burmanicus
Page
333
335
334
332
331
329
333
196. Crested Serpent Eagle. Spilomis cheela cheela (Latham)
, Falco Cheela Latham, 1790, Index Om., 1 ; 14 (India *» Lucknow)
Baker FBI No. 1765, Voi. 5: 96
local names. Fur} b&j, Dbgra duel (Hindi, Saharanpur) ; TUaj bqj> Sabdutr
(Bengal) 5 Sin (Assam).
size. Kite + ; length c . 74 cm. (29 in.).
maw characters. A large dark brown eagle with a full, round black*
and-white nuchal crest (very prominent when erected), a conspicuous yellow
patch at base of bill (cere and lores), and unfeathered yellow legs. Under-
parts paler brown, ocellated and finely barred with white and blackish.
Sexes alike, but considerable individual colour variation consequent on age.
330 FALCON IFOR MES
In overhead aspect brown coloration, very broad rounded wings with the
characteristic markings, held far back and on same plane as body in sailing
flight, together with the distinctive 3- or 4-no ted screaming call assist identi-
fication. Underwing pattern as follows: a narrow black border with a Inroad
white band behind it running across the primaries and along the entire
trailing edge, with narrower concentric parallel black-an<Lwhite bands
before it. F%ht very like a hawk-eagle’s ( Spizaetus ). A broad whitish band
across dark tail (not expanded in flight) and another ill-defined one near
its base are further pointers.
x |
Young (immature). Above , head, nape, and crest buffy or fulvous white
with blackish tips to the feathers. Upperparts paler brown than in adult,
scalloped with buffy white. Tail multi-banded dark and whity brown.
Below , buffy whitish, with sparse, irregular brown drops and streaks on breast
and flanks. General colour pattern reminiscent of Greenland Falcon (Falco
rusticolus ).
status, distribution and habitat. Resident, possibly subject to some
local migration or wandering, as suggested by reports of seasonal com-
monness and rarity and the finding of occasional specimens of extralimital
races in different parts of the country. W. Pakistan and N. India from Sind,
NWFP, and Kashmir, through Nepal (where observed up to 3050 m. alt.
in Gandak-Kosi watershed) to Assam north of Brahmaputra river, Gangetic
Plain, foothills and normally up to r. 2000 m. in the Himalayas. Affects
well-wooded well-watered country.
general habits. In effect the ecological counterpart in well-wooded
biotope of the closely related Short-toed Eagle (Circaetus gallicus) of semi-
desert areas. Keeps singly, or more usually in pairs, to jungle-dad ravines,
wooded streams, and the edge of forest clearings and cultivation, perched
bolt upright in the top of a lofty tree, partly concealed by the foliage, whence
it can command a clear view of the surroundings for movements of prey.
When alarmed the nuchal crest is erected * so as to frame the face with a
beautiful black and white ruff’ (Deignan). Also commonly seen soaring and
circling above the forest canopy, often at immense heights, uttering its
characteristic screaming whistles which clearly prodaim its identity even
when the bird i tself is a mere speck in the heavens. In the breeding season
pairs become particularly noisy and are much given to darting and tumbling
aerobatic displays; sometimes three birds thus engaged in some form of
• triangular ' courtship.
HAWKS, VULTURES, ETC. 331
food. Principally snakes, frogs, lizards, field rats and mice, maimed
or sickly birds. Crabs, and 4 an eel about a foot long 1 have been recorded.
In spite of alleged destruction to game birds, it seldom if ever takes a healthy
partridge or pheasant; occasionally domestic chickens.
voice and calls. Loud, high-pitched, prolonged whistling screams
kee-kee~kee or kehkck-kek~keee while soaring — sometimes also from perch.
Usually prefaced by a short double whi-whi, or three short notes like pu-
pu-pu, quickly repeated in undertone and audible only at close range.
breeding. Season, in the plains chiefly February-March ; in the hills
March-May. Nest, a large structure of sticks and twigs, sometimes lined with
green leaves. Built high up in a tree in or near a forest clearing, preferably
close to a stream. Egg, invariably a singleton, handsome, and with a wide
range of colour and markings, mostly creamy or yellowish white boldly
blotched with reddish brown. Average size of 16 eggs 71 *8 X 56*2 mm.
(Baker). Both birds share in nest-building, but apparently the female alone
incubates. Period unrecorded.
Museum Diagnosis. The nominate race cheela (northernmost) is larger and
darker than the other races. Chin and throat blackish; breast somewhat barred;
white ocelli on lower plumage with conspicuous black spots on either side. Tail in
adults with one broad almost pure white band. For details of plumage see Baker,
loc. cit.
Wing Bill Tarsus Tail
(from feathers)
<J»9 468-507 41-45 100-102 295-315 mm.
(Baker)
For Himalayan birds Kirke-Swann gives Wing c? c? 500-510; 9 9 495-532 mm.
For birds from the Punjab foothills:
(from skull)
3 ad. <?*<? 472-479 42-50 — 296-305 mm.
2 ad. 9 9 482-484 c . 48 — 299-304 mm.
(Whistler)
colours of bare parts. Iris golden yellow. Bill slaty blue, blackish on culmen
and tip; cere and lores yellow, brighter in breeding season. Legs and feet dull
yeUow; daws black.
197. Lesser or Peninsular Crested Serpent Eagle. Spilornis chela
melanotis (Jerdon)
Bum melanotis Jerdon, 1844, Madras Jour. Lit. Sci., 13: 166
(At the foot of the Nilgiris)
Falco albidus Temminck, 1820, Planch. Color. d'Ois., 4: pi. 19 (Pondicherry). Not
Falco albidus Gmelin, 1 788 : 267
Spilornis minor Hume, 1873, Nests Sc Eggs of Indian Birds: 42
Baker, FBI No. 1766, Vd. 5: 98
Plate 15, fig. 2, feeing p. 272
local names. Murayala (Marathi); ChoUdiyo sapm&r (Gujarati) ; N&Ua pdmula
gdddd (TeJugu); Botta genda (Gondi); Goom (Kannada); Chuhiparandu (Malayalam).
size. Kite+; length c. 74 cm, (29 in,).
332 FALCON IFORMES
field characters. Same as for 196; somewhat smaller. Tail in adults
with two broad pale bands instead of one, but the second not always very
distinct. See Museum Diagnosis.
status, distribution and habitat. Resident Peninsular India south
of the Gangetic Plain, arbitrarily south of lat. 25°N., from Gujarat eastward
to Bengal. Affects well-watered wooded plains and foothills country.
general habits. As in the northern race (196),
food, voice and calls. Ditto.
breeding. Season, December to March. Ncst> site and egg as in 196.
Average size of 36 eggs 65 « 7 X 50*9 mm. (Baker).
Museum Diagnosis. Chin and throat usually not blackish; breast generally
uniform unbarred; tail bands (2) grey, not white. Peninsular and Ceylonese birds
similar in coloration except for individual variation. Steady diminution in size from
north to south, some Kerala birds approaching the smallest race spilogaster of Ceylon.
MEASUREMENTS
Wing
Bill
Tarsus
Tall
c?9
421-461
(from feathers)
42-46
94-101
275-310 mm,
(Baker)
Recently collected random specimens of melanotis show the size trend N. to S. as
follows:
Gujarat
i<?
440 +
(from skull)
39 9
469-481
43-48
99-109
290-315 mm.
M.P, and
Orissa
1<?
432
44
102
263 mm.
39 9
440-467
40-46
100-110
273-310 nun.
Mysore
29 9
424-497 1
43-46
—
260-294 mm.
Kerala
7c? cf
357-440
43-46
91-107
211-279 mm.
COLOURS OF
bare parts. As in the nominate race.
198. Ceylon Crested Serpent Eagle. Spilomis cheela spilogaster (Blyth)
Haematomis spilogaster Blyth, 1853, Journ. Asiat. Soc. Bengal, 21: 351 (Ceylon)
Baker, FBI No. 1769, Vol. 5: 100
local names. Rajaliya (Sinhala); Kudumiydn (Tamil).
size. Kite±; length c. 59-63 cm. (23-25 in*)*
field characters. Same as for 196; smaller than 197 otherwise similar.
Also with individual colour variations. See Museum Diagnosis.
status, distribution and habitat. Race peculiar to Ceylon. Common
resident throughout the island. In wooded country all zones, to over r.
2100 metres in the hills.
general habits, food, calls, etc. Same as in the Indian races. 4 In the
courting season it indulges in curious aerobatics, stooping and rolling on
the wing, with tail raised and wings half closed and "shivering” * (G, M.
Henry),
1 This may be a vagrant ( ?) of the northern race.
HAWKS, VULTURES, ETC. 333
breeding. Season^ February to May; chiefly March and April. jVkrf, rite,
and egg as in the Indian races. Average size of 22 eggs 68*2 x 49*4 mm.
(Baker).
Museum Diagnosis. Upperparts often with a distinct purple-grey gloss; throat
very grey; breast browner, unbarred. But no consistent difference in coloration
apart from individual variation; thus best distinguished from melanoiis of peninsular
India (197) only by smaller size.
MEASUREMENTS
<?<?
Wing
355-402
Bill
(from feathers)
38-45
Tartus
4 ad. tj'tf’
370-389
(from skull)
41-44
4 ad. 9 9
384-398
41-44
83(1)
COLOURS OF BARE PARTS. As
in Indian birds.
Tail
(Baker)
222-240 mm.
240-254 mm.
(Whistler)
199. Burmese Crested Serpent Eagle. Spilomis cheela burmanieus Swann
Spilornis cheela burmanieus Swann, 1920, Syn. List Accipitr.: 81
( . rhayetmyo, Burma)
Baker, FBI No. 1767, Vol. 5: 99
Plate 12, fig. 6, facing p. 224
local names. Sin (Assam).
size. Kite+; length c, 68 cm. (27 in.).
field characters. Same as for the nominate race (196). Rather smaller
and paler but doubtfully separable in the field. See Museum Diagnosis,
status, distribution and habitat. Resident, possibly with some local
movement, in Assam south of the Brahmaputra river; Manipur (?), E.
Pakistan (?). Andaman Islands.
Extralimital . Burma, Shan States, Thailand and Tonkin, south to
Tenasserim.
general habits, food, etc. Same as in 196 and the other races.
breeding. Not recorded within Indian limits.
Museum Diagnosis. Smaller and paler than nominate cheela (196). White spots
on lower plumage larger and more conspicuous; the black adjoining spots paler
and less conspicuous. Terminal black band on primaries narrower.
measurements. Wing 408-463 mm. (Baker). Baker points out that very few
have a wing of over 450 mm., and those from the western area only. He pertinently
suggests that the bigger birds may be wandering specimens of S. c. cheela .
COLOURS OF BARE FARTS. As in 196.
200. Andaman Created Serpent Eagle. Spilornis cheela elgim (Blyth)
Haematomis elgini * Tytler* = Blyth, 1863, Jour. Asiat. Soc. Bengal, 32: 87
(South Andaman Island)
Spilornis Davisom Hume, 1873, Stray Feathers, 1: 307
(Neighbourhood of Port Blair, South Andamans)
Baker, FBI No. 1770 & 1773, Vol. 5: 101, 103
local names. Unrecorded.
334 FALCONIFORMES
size. Kite—; length r. 56 cm. (22 in.),
field characters, Like 196 but much smaller and very dark chocolate*
brown, both above and below. Underparts largely ocellated with white
but without any adjoining black spots. Crest shorter, more brown less
black. Tail with two narrow pale bars and narrow pale tip.
Young (immature). Head white, with dark centres to feathers of crown.
Face and throat streaked darker. Breast finely barred with dusky and dark
brown. Wings more profusely spotted with white than in adult
status, distribution and habitat. Common resident. Andaman Islands.
Nicobars (?).
general habits. Presumably the same as in better known races, but
very little recorded. Frequents clearings in the forest, hillsides with scattered
trees, etc.; less often mangrove swamps than burmanicus. Lives partly on
crabs (Butler).
breeding. Unknown.
Museum Diagnosis. Pale wing-bar next to tips of primaries much narrower than
dark bands on either side of it {contra in nominate cheela).
MEASUREMENTS
Wing Bill Tarsus Tail
(from feathers)
<?9 344-407 36-41 81-84 215-241 mm.
(once 75) (Baker)
(composite of davisoni and clgini, now considered synonymous)
Weight {clgini) 1 - 75—2 ■ 25 lb. (790-1024 gm.); 9 2-25-2-75 lb. (c. 1024-
1450 gm.) — (Hume).
colours of bare parts. Iris bright yellow. Bill pale horny, bluish homy or
fleshy, darker on culmen; cere, lores and orbital region lemon-yellow or bright
yellow. Legs and feet yellow.
201. Nicobar Created Serpent Eagle. Spilornis cheela minimus Hume
Spilornis minimus Hume, 1873, Stray Feathers, 1:464 (Camorta, Nicobar Islands)
Baker, FBI No. 1771, Vol. 5: 192
local names. Unrecorded.
size. Kite - ; length c, 48 cm. (19 in.).
field characters. Like 1 96 but very small, pale brown or greyish brown.
See Museum Diagnosis.
status, distribution and habitat. Apparently endemic in the Camorta-
Nancowry-Teressa-Katchall group of the Nicobar islands.
general habits. Davison in c . 1873 recorded it as wild and shy and
found only in forest near rivers, not frequenting the shores or clearings.
No further information has been added since,
food. Stomachs of three specimens collected by Richmond (1903)
contained remains of lizards, portions of a chicken, and a crab.
galls, etc. Unrecorded,
breeding. Unknown.
Museum Diagnosis, Upperparts pale grey or pale brown. Breast greyish brown,
unbarred in adults. Chin and throat same colour as breast. Apical black band on
primaries short; under 50 mm. in breadth*
HAWKS, VULTURES, ETC. 335
M&Amtimnm*
Wing Bill Tarsus Tail
(from feathers)
286-290 35-37 r, 75-77 191-192 mm,
(Baker)
Wing <?(?• 256*5-284*5; $ Q 288-292 mm. (Richmond).
colours of barb parts. Iris yellow. Bill light blue, dark homy at tip; cere,
gape, and orbital skin bright yellow. Legs and feet yellow (Baker).
202. Groat Nicobar Crested Serpent Eagle# Spilornis cheela klossi
Richmond
Sptlomis klossi Richmond, 1902, Proc. U.S. Nat. Mus., 25: 304
(Pulo Kunyi, Great Nicobar Island)
Baker, FBI No. 1772, Vol. 5: 102
local names. Unrecorded.
size. Kite — ; length c. 46 cm. (18 in.).
field characters. The most diminutive race of cheela 9 but close relation*
ship with it superficially unmistakable. See Museum Diagnosis.
status, distribution and habitat. Apparently endemic on Great Nicobar
Island or Sambelong, the largest and southernmost of the Nicobar group,
general habits, food, etc. Unrecorded, except that among the stomach
contents of a specimen were found remains of lizards, rats, a small bird,
and an Emerald Dove ( Chalcophaps ).
breeding. Unknown.
Museum Diagnosis. 4 General colour above . . . drab with light coppery sheen
and some of the feathers with narrow white tips; nape and sides of the neck Isabella
in colour; top of head black, the longer feathers with narrow tips of Isabella colour;
ear coverts, cheeks, and malar region clear smoke grey; breast buffy wood brown,
paler on abdomen, sides, thighs, and under tail-coverts; lesser and middle wing-
coverts dark drab, prominently edged with white; primaries black with two dusky
bars, one only on the outer primary; tail with two pale bars.
4 Immature birds have buffy tips to the feathers of head, back and wing-coverts;
the tail has three bars instead of two.* (Richmond)
measurements. 4 Wing 257; tail 165; tarsus 75; culmen 33 mm.* (Richmond).
colours of bare parts. 4 Iris yellow. Bill, base yellow, middle bluish, tip, black;
cere and naked skin on sides of head yellow * (Richmond, 1903).
Genus Pandion Savigny
Pandion Savigny, 1809, Descr. Egypte, Ois., 1 : 69, 96, Type, by monotypy, Pandion
fimxalis Savigny — Falco haliaetus Linnaeus
BiU moderate; tip long and greatly hooked; festoon variable. Nostrils small,
narrow, oblique. Tarsus short, stout, reticulated throughout except on the extremity
of the toes. Toes very powerful with prickly scales on the soles; outer toes reversible.
Claws rounded beneath, long, subequal, strongly curved. Wings very long and
pointed; 3rd primary (as,) longest; 1st between 4th and 5th or equal to latter.
Tail, almost square*
336 FALCONIFORMES
On morphological characters retained by some authorities in a separate family
Pandionidae. :<SeeWitherby i939, 3; 106-7.)
203, Osprey. Pmdion haliaetus kaiiaetus (Linnaeus)
Falco Haliaetus Linnaeus, 1758, Syst. Nat, ed. 10, l : 91
(Europe, restricted type locality, Sweden ex Fn. Suec.) ).
Baker, FBI No. 1704, Vol. 5: 3
Plate 12, fig. 1, facing p. 224
local names. Machhlimar t Afdchhdriya, Mdchhm&nga (Hindi) ; Machh&rang (Nepal) ;
Machhmarol , Kurort, Utkrosh (Bengal); Kotamm gaddd (Telugu); Hegguli (Yerukali);
Vrdl addip&n (Tamil); Talippartmdu (Malayalam); Pantiong (Lepcha).
size. Kite — ; length c. 56 cm. (22 in.).
field characters. A water-frequenting fish-eating hawk. Above > dark
brown with some white streaking on the slightly tufted head. Below , pure
white with a conspicuous broad brown-streaked band, or ‘ necklace \ across
upper breast. A blackish band running backwards from behind eye. Sexes
alike; female larger.
In overhead aspect glistening white throat and belly separated by the
brownish breast-band, closely barred pointed wings with black patches on
1 wrist * region (near base of first 2 or 3 primaries), and barred squarish
tail, diagnostic. Wings held in line with body, often slightly bent backwards
and downwards from ‘ wrist \
Young (immature). Feathers of upperparts and wing-coverts scalloped
with whitish. Brown breast-band less defined; head, neck, and face more
heavily marked with dark brown.
status, distribution and habitat. Breeds in small numbers, provenly
or circumstantially, along the Himalayas between c . 2000 and 3300 m.
altitude (Ladakh, Kashmir, Garhwal, Kumaon) and in Assam (Cachar).
Mainly winter visitor, September through March, throughout the sub-
continent — from Baluchistan east to Assam and Manipur, south to Kanya-
kumari. Andaman and Laccadive Islands, Nepal (Valley and lowlands);
Ceylon (to c . 1800 m. — Nuwara Eliya lake); Maidive Islands (vagrant?).
Not numerous but singly or pairs widely scattered ; at large bodies of water
— coastal lagoons, estuaries, broad rivers, jheels, and up to the highest
multipurpose dammed reservoirs.
Extralimital . Breeds in Europe and Asia from Scotland (formerly) and
Lapland east to Kamchatka and Japan, south to Spain, N. Africa, Medi-
terranean islands, Greece, Red Sea coasts, S, Arabia and S. China. In
winter S. Africa, India, Burma, Thailand, Malay Peninsula, Philippines,
Sunda Islands.
general habits. Single birds normally seen perched on fishing stakes,
dead trees standing in or near water, islanded rocks, etc. From here it
launches sorties to reconnoitre the waterspread, flying in wide Circles or
back and forth c* 20 or 30 m. up with slow deliberate wing-beats punctuated
with bouts of gliding. Now and again the bird stops deadin mid-air hovering
like a kestrel, legs dangling and a little forward in readiness, to investigate
suspected movement in the water below. At a favourable opportunity hurls
itself headlong on a fish with closed wings, going completely under with a
PLATE 18
1 Fahos. lentiahmae , Hobby (213). 2 A Ikrohiera v melanoleucos , VVhitelcgged Falconet (20 r )b
amurensw , Redlegged Falcon (220b 4 FaUo c. chicquaa. Redheaded Merlin (210). 5 frafeo
Laggar Falcon (200b 6 Falco c, imignis , Merlin (217). 7 FWco «. pekinmsis. Lesser Kestrel (221).
3 FWee i .
HAWKS, VULTURES, JSTQ. 3$7
great splash. Presently it emerges with the
slippery prey gripped firmly in its talons, the
prickly soles assisting in the process* With *
convulsive shrug to shake off the water from
its plumage, die bird makes for a favourite
perch where the prey is tom to pieces and
devoured. Occasionally a very large fish
is struck which the bird has considerable
difficulty in overpowering, bobbing up and
down with it in the water as the quarry
struggles to dive and escape. If too heavy to lift
dear, the victim is dragged along the surface
and beached on a shelving bank. Instances are
known where an osprey, unable to extricate
its claws from a particularly large and lively
fish, has been pulled under and drowned. In
flight occasionally descends to the water,
ploughing the surface with dropped talons for
5 or 6 metres at a stretch as if to wash off the slimy remains of a meal. Seldom,
if ever, soars and circles aloft for fun as so many other raptors do.
food. Exclusively fish. Often strikes mahseer (Barbus) and others heavier
than itself.
voice and calls. Seldom heard in its winter quarters. Described else*
where as a clear kai y kai , kai ; also as a * a short cheeping whistle \
breeding. Reports of Indian breeding not completely satisfactory, though
evidently a few pairs do so in the Himalayas, e.g. in Kashmir and Ladakh.
Baker found a pair breeding in several successive years in Cachar in March
and April. Here the nest was a huge structure of sticks and branches r. 138
cm. across and nearly as deep. Built c. 12-14 m. up in a thinly foliaged tree
standing on high ground in the middle of a bheel or swamp. According to
Baker average size of 100 European eggs 61 -6 x 46*3 mm. with which
three taken by him in Cachar agree. Normal clutch, 2 or 3, rarely 4, eggs
white or yellowish white, spotted and blotched with dull red ; very handsome.
(For an excellent breeding biology see Horst Siewert 1941, 6 Zur Brutbio-
logie des Fischadlers Pandion h. haliaeius (L.)’, Jour, J. Om. Erganzungsband
3: 145-93.)
Museum Diagnosis. As for the genus. For details of plumage etc. see Witherby
1939, 3: 110-11.
MEASUREMENTS
Wing
Bill
Tarsus
Tail
<*<?
452-495
(from feathers)
37-39
c . 59-65
191-223 mm.
99
468-508
—
—
204-220 mm.
Adults recently collected in India measure:
f ' <
(Baker)
2<?<?
481-481
(from skull)
41-41-5
.
201-210 mm.
399
482-537
41-43
60-61
200-25 l l mm.
(2 msd.)
(2 msd.)
(2 msd.)
(SA, Whistler, Mememhagen)
x M
82
338 FALCONIFORMES
colours or bars parts. Iris yellow or golden yellow; eyelids greenish bine.
Bill black; cere and gape dull greenish blue. Legs and feet pale greenish or yellowish;
daws black, ^
Family Falconidae, Falcons
For anatomical details see Stresemann 1927-34, Aves; 816; Witberby 1939,
3; 1-2
Key to the Genera
Page
Wing under 170 mm Mtcrohierax 338
Wing over 180 mm Fako 341
Genus Micro hierax Sharpe
Mierohierax Sharpe, 1874, Cat. Bds. Brit. Mus., 1; 350 (in key), 366. Type, by
original designation, Fako fringillarius Drapiez
Bill large, slightly compressed, with a very large tooth on upper mandible, some-
times with a second and smaller anterior tooth. Wings long in proportion to size
of bird but rather rounded. 2nd and 3rd primaries (as.) longest; 1st and 4th subequal
and nearly as long. Tail long and nearly square. Tarsi and toes powerful, with
strong daws; lateral toes nearly equal in length and not much shorter than middle
toe. Tarsus feathered about half way down.
Key to the Species
White collar present M. caerulescens
White collar absent A/, melanoleucos
204, Himalayan Redbreasted Falconet. Mtcrohierax caerulescens
caerulescens (Linnaeus)
Falco caerulescens Linnaeus, 1758, Syst. Nat., ed. 10, 1 : 88
(Asia «= Bengal, ex Edwards, pi, 1 08)
Baker, FBI No. 1734, Vol. 5: 52
Plate 12, fig. 4, lacing p. 224 and Plate 17, fig. 7, facing p. 320
local names. Ching fin njyel (Lepcha); DaoUng kashiba (Cachari),
size. Bulbul ±; length c . 18 cm. (7 in.).
field characters. A diminutive black-and-white falcon, very shrike-like
in silhouette when perched. Pointed wings and flight — a series of rapid
flaps followed by a graceful guide — reminiscent
of Ashy Swallow-Shrike (Artamus Justus)* Tail,
partly spread in flight, square-ended and rather
triangular, with apex at base ^ rather like a
barbet’s but proportionately longer.
Adult, Above, glossy black. Forehead, super-
cilium, and sides of face white. A prominent
black band through the eye; a broad white
collar on hindncck. Below , chin, throat, thighs
x 1
FALCONS 339
andunder tail-coverts deep ferruginous. Rest of lower plumage rusty white.
Sexes alike; female larger.
Young (immature). Forehead, superdlium, fece, and collar more or
less ferruginous or chestnut. Underparts generally whiter. In quite young
birds upperparts and wing-coverts scalloped with pale rufous.
status, distribution and habitat. Resident. The Himalayan foothills
(normally to c. 650 m. elevation; recorded as high as r. 2000 m.) and terai
from Kumaon in Uttar Pradesh east through Nepal, Sikkim, Bhutan, and
Assam south to Cach&r. Westernmost record in U.P., Naini Tal (c. 79°
26'E.); southernmost Sultanpur (c. 26°15'N.). Affects outskirts of forest,
deciduous and evergreen, and abandoned cultivation clearings with tall
dead trees to serve as foraging bases. The race burmanicus replaces it extra-
limitaily, in Burma, the Shan States, Thailand, etc.
general habits. Met with singly, in pairs, or loose (family?) parties
of four or five, perched individually on a derelict spar standing in the middle
of a forest clearing, or huddled on a snag near the top of a tall tree whence
a good lookout can be kept over the surroundings, launching out after prey
one by one or several together and circling back to the same huddle. On the
pole-top the bird slowly rotates to face all directions in turn, its fierce eye
alert and watchful, head bobbing ludicrously now and again like the
spotted owlet (Athene ) , and tail swinging slowly and deliberately up and down
as in the blackwinged kite ( Elanus ). From time to tixne it darts out at lightning
speed on rapidly beating wings at some butterfly or dragonfly — sometimes
swooping quite low down — snatching the insect in its talons in mid-air
and circling back to the same perch with a steep upward glide at the end
— very like a shrike {Lanins). Sometimes descends to the ground in search
of grasshoppers, etc. as drongos occasionally do. The abruptness with which
such a fast-moving bird will become completely immobile immediately
upon regaining its perch is quite astonishing. Here the victim is held under
foot, the wings pulled off and floated to the ground, the body tom up with
a distinct semblance of anger and ferocity — as if dealing punishment —
before being devoured. The ground under favourite hunting bases is littered
around with butterfly and dragonfly wings, providing a good index of the
species taken. A butterfly chase by this pigmy falcon is strongly reminis-
cent of the twirls and turns of a merlin when in pursuit of a meadow pipit
(Meinertzhagen).
Rather sluggish during the middle of the day but intensely active towards
evening, dashing about after prey ‘uttering ail the while a shrill whistle*.
Towards April the birds congregate in small colonies among clusters of
lofty simul trees (. Salmalia ) in open tracts in preference to forest, but
disperse widely after breeding (H. Stevens, 1923-5).
food. Large insects, chiefly butterflies, dragonflies, grasshoppers, beetles.
Occasionally small birds, wren warbler ( Prinia ), ruby throat (Erithacus
ptctoralk)) and pipit {Antkus mfulus) being recorded. * Tpihima butterflies are
captured on the wing, but larger species like Papilio and Danais avoided *
(Meinertzhagen) , though a Papilio memnon was taken while sipping nectar
from flower (0* £. Shaw). Butterflies form a regular and important item of
its dietary. Observers have suggested that the birds can discriminate to
some extent between unsavoury species and their palatable mimics, thus
340 FALCONIF0RMES
e.g. between Danaine or Euploeine models, and their Papilio mimics, avoid-
ing the former and capturing the latter !
breedings Curiously enough for such a comparatively common bird,
unrecorded. Apparently the Burmese race (M. c. burmankus) has also been
found nesting only once or twice. Nest, a disused barbet (?) hole in a dead
branch. Eggs, 4, dirty white (once 14 April).
Museum Diaqnosis. As for the genus. For details of plumage see Baker, loc. cit.
MEASUREMENTS
Wing
Bill Tarsus
Tail
<?( ?
91-106
(from feathers( ?))
11-12 «. 20-22
58-64 mm.
9 9
100-112
12-13 —
64-67 mm.
Recent specimens from Nepal and Sikkim measure:
(Baker)
5 <?&
101-104
(from cere)
10-11 —
60-65 mm.
399
100-110
(4 msd.)
11 (2) 25(1)
(4 msd.)
63-65 mm.
(2 msd.)
(SA, Biswas, Ripley)
colours of bare parts. Iris brown. Bill, basally yellowish green; distally black.
Legs and feet blackish slate.
miscellaneous. This fierce and bold little falconet (or the next (205),
or perhaps both) was trained in the Mogul Emperor Akbar’s days, and also
later, to strike sparrows and other small birds — some considerably larger
and heavier than itself.
205. Whitelegged Falconet or Pied Pigmy Falcon. Microhurax
melanoleucos (Blyth)
Jerax melanolrueos Blyth, 1843, Jour. Asiat. Soc. Bengal, 12; 179 (Assam)
Baker, FBI No. 1736, Vol. 5: 54
Plate 18, fig. 2, facing p. 336
local name. Dealing keuhiba (Cachari).
size. Bulbul ±; length c. 20 cm. (8 in.).
field characters. A d u 1 1 . A diminutive shrike-like falcon, similar
to Redbreasted Falconet (204) but above, black without the white hind
collar; below, pure white with no rusty tinge. Sexes alike.
Young (immature). Undescribed.
status, distribution and habitat. Resident in Assam from Kamrup
dist. eastward through Dibrugarh dist., south to Cachar; Manipur; E.
Pakistan (Sylhet dist, Hill Tippera, Chittagong dist.). Plains, foothills and
up to e. 1500 m. elevation. Affects the neighbourhood of forest clearings and
tea plantations, and wooded foothills country in both deciduous and ever-
green biotopes.
Extralimilcd. Yunnan (?), Tonkin and SE. China.
general habits. Similar to the Redbreasted Falconet (204). Usually
bold and unafraid of man, e.g. in the neighbourhood of tea plantation
labourers’ barracks. Takes insects on the wing by lightning sorties 6o*n
FALCONS 341
an elevated stance, flying out with rapid wing-beats, circling and sailing
back to the perch after the capture — actions very reminiscent of the
Swallow-Shrike. Insects are disposed of in the air or, if large, brought
back to the base for dismemberment before devouring; Capable of great
speed, sometimes stooping on birds much larger than itself just like the
true falcons, killing them by striking with the hind claw. Begins feeding by
di&gbig with its bill into the head of the victim with the same semblance
of ferocity and vindictiveness as 204.
food. Butterflies, dragonflies, grasshoppers and other large insects.
Possibly also mice and lizards. Among its bird victims are recorded scimitar
babbler, thrush, sparrow, and swallow.
voice and calls. A shrill scream; also a low chattering call. A pro-
longed hiss when angry (Baker).
breeding. Little known. Season , March to May. Nest , a disused wood-
pecker or barbet hole; in one case on the underside of a branch c. 13 m.
up in a tree standing in a forest clearing, with a quantity of beetle elytra
and other insect remains as (fortuitous?) lining. Eggs, presumably 3 or 4
(judging from flying broods) but so far more than one (incomplete clutch)
never taken from nest; pure white, unmarked, with a soapy surface. Average
size of 6 eggs 27*9 X 22 *4 mm. (Baker). Presumably both sexes incubate,
but this needs confirming. Incubation period unknown.
Museum Diagnosis. No white collar; lower plumage including thigh-coverts
pure white.
MEASUREMENTS
Wing Bill Tarsus Tail
(from fea tliers)
9 9 111-117 14-15 22 71-73 mm.
(Baker)
Two specimens in the Bombay Natural History Society's collection measure:
(from skull)
c? 116 14 25 65 mm.
9? 118 14 27 71 mm.
(SA)
Kirke-Swann (p. 323) gives Wing cF 108; 9 121 mm.
colours of barb farts. Iris bright brown. Bill deep slaty blue to blackish;
tip black. Legs and feet dark homy brown to black.
Genus Falco Linnaeus
Falco Linnaeus, 1758, Syst. Nat., ed, 10, 1 : 88. Type, by subsequent designation,
Falco subbuteo Linnaeus. (A.Q.U. Committee, 1886)
Bill stout and strongly toothed inside the hooked tip, often with a blunt festoon
behind the tooth. Nostril circular, with a central tubercle. Tarsus equal to or
shorter than middle toe without claw. Upper part of tarsus plumed in front; naked
portions covered with small hexagonal scales. Toes very long, covered with trans-
verse scales above; hind toe shorter in proportion and very powerful; claws sharp,
curved and strong. Tail moderately long, slightly rounded but not graduated.
Wing long and very pointed, the proportions of the primaries varying somewhat
(See Museum Diagnosis under the different species.)
342 FALCON! FORMES
Genus nea4y cosmopolitan, ten species with their races occurring within our
limits as residents or winter visitors* Falcons (Fako) easily distinguishable from hawks
(Accipiter) even at great heights in the sky by their long, pointed, swahow^like wings
and shorter utils* When soaring the wings are held straight, on same plane as body,
but when flapping they are usually bent as though preparing for a stoop. There as
considerable change in all falcons from immature to adult plumage, and identifica-
tion from descriptions in the transitional stages difficult and unsatisfactory. Im*
mature usually distinguishable by bluish tinge of feet u. bright yellow in adults,
Falco p. peregrinator being an exception.
Key to die Species
A Size large, middle toe without claw over 40 mm 1
B Size small, middle toe without claw under 40 ram. * . .2
1 First primary longer than third; upperparts ashy grey or slate grey
in adults F, peregrirms
First primary about equal to third; upperparts not ashy or slaty grey
F. biarmicus
2 Second and third primaries subequal; first and fourth primaries
subequal a
Second primary longest, first much longer than fourth b
a Crown grey or brown F. columbarius
Crown chestnut F, chicquera
Crown streaked F. tinnunculus
b Middle toe over 29 mm I
Middle toe under 29 mm II
I Breast white or buff with brown streaks .F. subbuteo
Breast deep rufous unspotted in adults F. severus
Breast sooty grey F. concolot
II Claws black F. mpertinus
Claws yellow F. naumanni
Falco biarmicus Teniminck
Key to the Subspecies
A A distinct narrow cheek-stripe; middle tail-feathers entirely brown in
adults ...F. b . jogger
B No cheek-stripe ; middle tail-feathers with white spots on each web .... 1
1 Plumage above with no bars F. b, cherrug
Plumage above barred throughout F. b. milvipes
Page
347
342
357 , 358
359
365-8
352
355 , 356
356
361
*363
Page
344
342
344
206. Suker or Gherrug Falcon, Falco biarmicus cherrug J. E, Gray
Falco cherrug J. E. Gray, 1834, III. Ind. Zool., 2; pi. 2$ (India)
Baker, FBI No. 1722; Vol. 5: 39
local names. Chdrg 9 > Chdrgela $ (Hindi). The name 4 Saker * is evidently
the same as saqr (=* falcon, Arabic).
size. Kite — ; length c, 50-56 cm. (20-22 in*)*
field characters. Male (adult). Above, head pale rufous-white with
narrow blackish shaft-stripes. Sides of face and throat white with dusky
FALCONS $$3
Itrwtoi on <»r-coveits, but no distinct moustache* Upperparts earthy brown,
scalloped with rufous* Below, breast and belly whitish, thickly marked with
longitudinal brown drop*, becoming bars on flanks#
Female similar but larger and more heavily marked below*
Young (immature). Above, darker and more brown generally. Head
more brown with the darker markings more extensive. Below , dun and
throat unmarked white; rest of underparts boldly streaked with diark brown.
status, distribution and habitat. Rather scarce winter visitor; arriving
c. October, gone again by April. W. Pakistan (NWF, Province, Sind, Pun-
jab) and adjoining NW. India in E. Punjab and Rajasthan — how far east
uncertain but has been obtained in Delhi. Hodgson’s specimens from Nepal
referred to by Baker (loe. cit.) belong to the next race, milvipes (Biswas).
Affects desert and open semi-desert biotope.
Extralimttal, Breeds in Hungary, middle and southern Russia, and the
Caucasus. In winter to Egypt and NW. India (Peters).
migration. No ringing records.
general habits. Keeps to open country like the Laggar, Much prized
for falconry and trained to strike gazelle, kite, owl, houbara bustard, hare,
etc., being considered second only to Goshawk or Peregrine for the sport.
In the wild state its method of hunting small animals is to fly low over the
ground and crash into its victim, ‘ binding ’ and crushing it to death. How-
ever, when trained to larger quarry like kite and houbara it adopts a dif-
ferent and more spectacular technique. It manoeuvres itself into a position
higher than its quarry and then stoops on it with terrific velocity raking it
with its powerful hind claw in passing, or 1 binding * in mid-air, both birds
interlocked and tumbling down together in spirals with extended wings.
Excellent sport is said to be provided as pursuer and pursued both try to
gain a position of advantage above each other, rising in spirals (or ‘ ringing *
according to the term used in falconry) higher and higher till almost lost to
sight.
food. Largely spiny-tailed lizards ( Uromastix hardwickii ), desert gerbilles
(Meriones hurrianae) and other small mammals, and birds like sandgrouse
(Pterocles). A frog has been recorded, but this probably rather exceptional in
its desert habitat.
voice and calls. Unrecorded.
breeding. Extralimital. Season, April to May. Nest of sticks in trees or
on cliffs, bulky and well lined; occasionally usurped from a vulture or other
bird. Eggs, 3 or 4, intermediate between those of the Peregrine and the
Laggar in coloration and markings.
Museum Diagnosis. First primary (as.) about equal to 3rd, Upperparts not
ashy- or slaty grey but brown with broad tawny edges (scalloping) and blackish
shafls. No moustachial- or cheek-stripe; middle tail-feathers with white spots on
each web. Differs from the race F. b . milvipes (207) in having upper plumage un-
barred.
measurements
Wing Bill Tarsus
(from feathers)
&& 348-370 \ ^
$9 $90-412 / 26 27 So-so
Tail
{ 190-200 mm.
207-210 mm.
(Baker)
344 FALCONIFORMES
colour* o* bare parts. Iris dark brown usually without any suggestion Of
ydtoW. Bill miry white or yellowish white, tipped blackish; cere dull yellow. Legs
and feet duh yrilow or ydlowish green; daws black.
20 7. S h a n g ha r Falcon* Falco biamicus milvipes Jordon
Falco milvipes Jerdon, 1871, Ibis: 240 (Umballa, India)
Baker, FBI No. 1723, Vol. 5: 41
local names. Apparently same as for 206.
size. Kite — ; length c. 50-58 cm. (20-23 in.).
field characters. Adult. Above, darker brown than in Cherrug (206)
and barred all over with pale rufous, reminiscent of female kestrel. Crown
darker rufoul than in 206; sides of bead more streaked with blackish; a
distinct broad blackish moustachial stripe. Below, breast and belly whitish,
marked similarly with longitudinal but more blackish drops, becoming
bars on flanks. Sexes alike; female larger.
Young (immature). Difficult to distinguish from yoUng of 206, but
darker and generally with tail more completely cross-barred. Field identi-
fication unsatisfactory.
status, distribution and habitat. Rare winter visitor. W. Pakistan
(Baluchistan, W. Punjab) and adjoining open semi-desert country in NW.
India, but imperfectly known. Hodgson’s specimens from Nepal, hitherto
considered F. b. cherrug , belong to this subspecies (Biswas).
Extralimital. Breeds from Pamirs and the Altai Mountains across SE.
Mongolia and south to the Nanshan and Alashan Mountains (Peters).
general habits, food, etc. Little known, but apparently not different
from those of the Cherrug.
Museum Diagnosis. First primary (as.) about equal to 3rd. Cheek-stripe more
distinct than in Cherrug. Upper plumage barred with pale rufous throughout.
MEASUREMENTS
Wing Bill Tarsus Tail
(from feathers)
^ ^ 374-435 } 25-27 50-60 188-236 mm.
(Baker)
colours of bare farts. As in 206 but bill darker, more bluish slate than ivory
white.
208. Laggar Falcon. Falco biamicus jugger J. E. Gray
Falco JuggerJ. E. Gray, 1834, 111. Ind. Zool., 2: pi. 26 (India)
Baker, FBI No. 1722, Vol. 5:37
Plate 18, fig. 5, faring p. 336
local names. Ldggdr Q , Jdggar (Hindi) ; Lagddtt (Telugu).
size. Kite — ■ ; c, 43-46 cm. (17-18 in.).
held characters. Adult . Upperparts dark and ashy brown. Crown
and nape whitish. A narrow but distinct moustachial stripe running down
FALCONS
345
X e. |
In overhead flight the white breast,
lining of the pointed wings,
suggest its identity.
from in front and below eyes.
Below , white or whitish with
longitudinal light brown drops
(sometimes obsolescent on breast
and abdomen), larger and more
numerous on flanks and thighs.
Sexes alike; female larger.
At short range distinguished
from Cherrug Falcon by middle
tail-feathers being entirely brown,
v . with much white in them.
and dark-and-white markings On the
also that two birds are usually seen together,
Young (immature). Above, dark brown, the feathers scalloped paler.
Below , only chin and throat whitish ; rest of underparts dark brown.
status, distribution and habitat. Resident (partial local migrant in
some areas) practically throughout the subcontinent from W. Pakistan
(Baluchistan, Sind, NWFP, Punjab) east through Assam and Manipur,
and from c. 1000 metres up in the Himalayas southward to Kanyakumari,
including Nepal and E. Pakistan. Rare in S. India; absent in Ceylon. Affects
dry open country, thin jungle, and cultivation; avoids humid forest tracts.
Extralimital, Breeding also in Afghanistan north to Turkestan, near
Tashkent, and in S. Turkmenia (Dementiev & Rustamov).
general Habits. The commonest and most easily identified of all our
falcons. Normally seen in separated pairs — each pair with a vast territory
— perched on poles or tree-tops in open dry scrub country and the neigh-
bourhood of cultivation and habitations ; in the last invariably chivvied by
house Crows (C. splendens). A pair will sometimes take up its abode even in
the midst of a noisy town, using a high tower or temple spire as foraging
base for sorties against the urban pigeon population which provide the
birds with comfortable living. Pairs usually hunt in coordination taking
turns to chase and harry the prey, both birds then sharing the spoils. The
laggar is well known for its habit of waiting on sportsmen as they walk the
crops or beat the bushes for partridge or quail, and stooping and carrying
off a bird that flushes or one that has been pricked by shot.
Not specially prized by falconers but is, or was, trained to fly at crows,
partridges, cattle egrets, and birds much larger than itself such as grey heron,
florican and houbara bustard — also at hare. When flown at large birds
it adopts and same technique as the cherrug (q.v.), spiralling upwards or
4 ringing * into the sky with its quarry, constantly manoeuvring for position
above from which it can stoop and bind and drop to earth together with
its victim.
On approach of the breeding season pairs commonly indulge in specta-
cular aerial play, stooping at each other with astonishing velocity, side-
slippiag* half somersaulting, and effortlessly zooming aloft again. Sometimes
hovers against wind like kestrel (Roseveare).
pood. Field rats, bats, lizards, small birds, e.g. mynas, babblers, drongos,
quails and partridges. Also grasshoppers and locusts. An occasional pair
846 FALCONIFORMES
sometimes attaches itself to a poultry run, the birds then becoming a serious
menace to small chickens*
voice and Calls. A shrill prolonged cry whi^eMe, seldom heard except
in the breeding season.
breeding. Season, overall January to April. Nest, a deepplatform of
twigs, lined with straw, leaves, etc. 10 to 15 metres up in a large peepul,
banyan or mango tree; lower down in acacias in Rajasthan, N. Gujarat
and semi-desert areas. Sometimes built on a ledge of diff, or on a minaret
or cornice of a ruined building. Old nests of other birds of prey and crows
are frequently appropriated. A curious circumstance commonly observed
and recorded is that in the same tree, building, or cliff as holds a laggar’s
nest may often be found nests of such gentle species — rollers, pigeons, doves
and others — as normally comprise its prey. The co-tenants are here left
unmolested, and on their part seem completely unperturbed by the comings
and goings of the falcons. Eggs, 3 or 4, rarely 2 or 5, handsome, rather
variable in coloration: pale stone or pinkish cream, densely blotched and
smudged with brick-red or reddish brown. Average size of 60 eggs 50*0 X
39*4 mm. (Baker). Both sexes assist in building or repairing the nest, the
male bringing the material the female arranging it in position. Both sexes
incubate and feed the young. Period of incubation unknown. The birds
are remarkably close sitters and demonstrate fiercely against a human nest-
robber, diving at him repeatedly yet seldom striking.
Museum Diagnosis. First primary (as.) about equal to 3rd, A distinct narrow
cheek-stripe, contra Cherrug. Middle tail-feathers entirely brown in adults. For
details of plumage see Baker, loc. cit.
Chick (in down). ‘Fairly long, dull white. Whole body covered except in
definite places (apteria). Whole head covered, and down continuous thence down
hindneck to spinal track, which spreads out over back of thigh and is continuous
with lateral ventral tracks. Between the spinal and humeral tracks, an apterion
with sparse short tufts of down. From the chin run two ventral neck tracks, separated
by apteria from the dorsal neck track and from each other, which at the top of the
sternum divide into lateral and median sternal tracks, the apteria between them
having scanty short tufts; apterion in centre of abdomen, rest covered with sparse
down continuous with dorsal track laterally. Upper surface of wing except manus,
clothed with long down, undersurface four rows of short down. Thumb with distinct
claw ’ (Ticehurst, 1926). For description of down plumage and first plumage see
also Whistler, JBNHS 22: 397. For plumage when 7 months old, and of the same
bird when nearly adult at 17 months see Inglis, ibid. 14; 560. According to Hume
acquires adult plumage when fully 3 years old (SF 5; 50).
MEASUREMENTS
Wing
Bill
(from skull)
Tarsus
Tall
cfcf
316-335
25-31
49-53
164-163 torn,
99
357-370
27-33
46-54
186-2 1& mm,
<SA)
colours OF BARE parts. Adult. Iris dark brown. BUI bluish slaty .darker at tift
paler and sometimes yellowish at base; cere yellow. Legs and feet yellow; cjtewi
black. Juvenile. As above, but cere pale greyish green; legs and feet pale grey,
greenish grey, or dull slaty.
FALCONS
3*7
Falco peregrinus Tuns tall
Key to As Subspscks
Page
A Cheek-stripe narrow, a buff nuchal collar
. .F. p. babyUmkus
B Qheek-stripe broad, nuchal collar lacking
1 Above paler, below white or almost so. ...... .
. . F. p. japonensis
347
Above much darker, below very ferruginous . .
. .F. p* peregrinator
350
209. Eastern Peregrine Falcon. Falco peregrinus japonensis Gmelin
Fako japonensis Gmelin, 1788, Syst. Nat., 1(1): 257, No. 44, ex 4 Japanese Hawk’,
Latham, J., Gen. Syn. Bds., 1 : 33, No. 7b (* flew pn board off Japan *)
Falco calidus Latham, 1790, Index Orn., 1: 41 (India)
Falco peregrinus ussuriensis Buturlin, 1907, Psov. i. Ruzejn. Okhota, 13; 100
(Ussuriland and Japan)
Falco peregrinus harterti Buturlin, 1907, Psov. i. Ruzejn. Okhota, 13: 100
(Lower Lena to Anadyr, common on the Kolyma)
Cf. Stresemann, E., 1949, Ibis 87 : 253
Baker, FBI No. 1718, Vol. 5 ; 32
local names. -Bhyri $ , Bhyri bacha (Hindi. Apparently a corruption of the
Arabic name * Bahari *, implying its connexion with water, cf. the American name
4 Duck-hawk*) ; Bhyri dega (Telugu); Dtga (Yerukali); Kdydl pullu (Malayalam).
Among falconers 'falcon gentle’ * 9 peregrine; ‘tiercel* or 4 tiercel gentle’
- cf *
size. Kite — ; Jungle Crow ±. Length c . 40-48 cm. (16-19 in.).
field characters. A typical, compact, pointed-winged, broad-shouldered,
streamlined falcon.
Adult. Above , head slaty black with conspicuous black cheek- or mous-
tachial stripes. Upperparts grey, barred with blackish. Below 9 pinky fulvous
or rufous-white, narrowly barred from lower breast down with blackish.
Sexes alike; female larger.
In overhead aspect robust bullet-shaped whitish body (v. rufous in
Shaheen — 211), underside of wings narrowly barred with black, and
comparatively short unexpanded tail are suggestive. Prominent black
moustachial stripes contrasting with white chin and throat, coupled with
swift purposeful pigeon-like flight and short glides, are further pointers to
its identity.
Young (immature). Above 9 dark brown, darkest on head. Below , rufes-
cent white, all except chin and throat boldly streaked with brown, the
streaks becoming bars on flanks and thighs. Transition plumages from
juvenile to adult confusing and difficult to identify with certainty,
status, distribution and habitat. Winter visitor (September/October
to March/April) practically throughout the subcontinent from Baluchistan
eastward through Assam and Manipur, and from Gilgit and Kashmir
(once at c, 4000 metres in the Indus valley) and along the foot of the
Himalayas south to Kanyakumari. Ceylon (Dry Zone — mostly in the
juvenile plumage); Nepal (Valley); Andaman (?), Nicobar (?), Laccadive
islands; Maidive Islands (apparently * infrequent in winter ’ — Phillips.
348 FALCONIFORMES
Subspecies?)* Affects the neighbourhood of rivers, jheeb, coastal lagoons
and marshes -4- the favourite haunts of migratory waterfowl,
ExtralimitaL * Breeds in N< Asia from W. Siberia east to Anadyr and
Kamchatka* In winter migrating to Japan, SE, India, Sunda Islands, the
Moluccas, New Guinea, and occasionally to N. Africa ■ (Peters)*
migration. No ringing records.
general HAam. More individualistic than the Laggar, seldom hunting
in couples. Not actually crepuscular but more active in its hunting just
after dawn and towards evening. Spends the daytime ensconced on a shady
bough of a tree overlooking its feeding territory, or perched in a sandy
river-bed or on a tree-stump or mound. When hunting flies low and fast
with rapid powerful wing-beats, the wings usually slightly bent back from
the first joint* ‘ On viewing ducks on a pool or a flock of doves in the fields,
the falcon drops to within a few feet of the ground, the beat of the wings
becomes even faster than before and the wings bend closer to the body
and it fairly hurls itself through the air into the middle of the flock, which
will probably rise en masse when the falcon is still a few yards distant. Having
selected one particular bird the chase begins Usually the dove succeeds
in evading those dread talons in the first instance and neatly doubles back.
Up rises the falcon almost vertically to her “ pitch ", turns and shoots down
like an arrow in the wake of its quarry, following every turn and twist of
the latter. Another miss and up she goes again determined to secure her
breakfast before the dove can reach the shelter of the trees surrounding a
village, not far distant The dove reaches the fringe of trees closely followed
by the falcon, and dashes right into the branches of the nearest tree. The
falcon once more rises high into the air, circles round once or twice in the
hope of its quarry or another bird leaving the security of the trees for the
open ground beyond, gives up the chase and flies straight, away, rising
steadily as it goes, to make an attack elsewhere ’(Donald, JBNHS, 27: 283).
Largely predatory on waterfowl, which are usually struck in mid-air,
the falcon stooping almost vertically from above at incredible velocity,
wings pressed to its sides and with a loud swishing sound, raking with the
hind claw and literally ripping open the victim which falls limply to the
ground. The peregrine circles a couple of times before stooping again to
retrieve the quarry. It then repairs to its favourite feeding-perch and
thoroughly plucks its victim before beginning to tear and devour it. Not
infrequently it stoops, strikes, and binds on the quarry in mid-air all in
the same lightning action, bearing it away in its stride. A peregrine will
often stoop at a duck falling to a sportsman's gun, and so intense is its con*
centration on the quarry then that it will stoop again and again after an
initial miss, regardless of shots fired at it which may even send its
feathers flying.
food. Chiefly waterfowl — ducks, coots, moorhens, lapwings, etc. * —
and waders; also pigeons, partridges, and many other birds. Among its prey
have been specifically recorded Kaleej pheasant {Lopkura Utitotmlam),
Imperial Pigeon, Chough, Caspian Tern, and early-flying bats. The more
robust female (bhyri) is trained to strike birds much larger and heavier than
itself, e.g. egrets, herons, storks, cranes and bustard. Cases reported of single
birds (subspecies?) coming on board ships in mid-ocean (once along Arabian
FALCONS 849
coast) and subsisting on Storm Petreb (Oceaniks oceanicus ) , flying out over
the sea and returning to ship with the prey (Sea Swallow, 1957, 10; 20;
Arfco, 1961, 49; 176-7),
voice and calls. None recorded in its winter quarters. Reportedly noisy
when breeding*
breeding Extralimital. Nest, situation, eggs, etc. as in the Shaheen
(211) q.v.
Museum Diagnosis. First primary (as.) longer than 3rd* Upperparts ashy grey
in adult. Cheek-stripe broader than eye. No nuchal collar. Crown slaty black;
breast very slightly rufous. For details of plumages of nominate race see Witherby
1939, 3; 13-15. F> p, japonmsis differs from it (doubtfully) in being rather paler,
with less black on sides of head and ear-coverts — a narrower moustachial stripe
and large white patch behind it.
MEASUREMENTS
Wing Bill Tarsus Tail
(from feathers)
297-316 r. 25-26 <r. 49-51 134-145 ram.
9 9 344-379 27-30 — — mm.
(Baker)
Middle toe with claw, && c - 57-58; 9 9 62-70 mm.
colours 07 bare parts. Iris brown or deep hazel. Bill bluish slaty, yellowish
at base of lower mandible; cere yellow. Legs and feet dull chrome-yellow to almost
orange-yellow ; claws deep slaty to almost black.
210. Redcapped or Barbary Falcon. Falco peregrinus babylonicus
P. L. Sclater
Falco babylonicus P. L. Sclater, 1861, Ibis: 218, pi, 7
(Oudh, in India, Babylonia and Abyssinia. Type from Oudh)
Baker, FBI No. 1720, Vol. 5: 36
local names. ShSheen, Safed shaheen (Hindi); Ldlsir shaheen (of Puryab falconers).
size. Kite — ; Jungle Crow±. Length c. 38-46 cm. (15-18 in.),
field characters. Like the Peregrine in shape and build.
Ad ul t . Above, crown largely rufous or chestnut and ashy brown. Feathers
round eye and narrow cheek-stripe black. Sides of neck buff; a broad rufous
nuchal collar. Upperparts and tail ashy grey cross-barred with blackish.
Below, chin and throat whitish; rest of underparts pale rufous; flanks and
under wing-coverts barred blackish. Sexes alike; female larger.
Young (immature). Above, dark brown broadly scalloped with rufous.
Tail barred rufous and brown. A broad rufous nuchal collar; black cheek-
stripes and around eyes as in adult. Below , rufous with broad blackish streaks
except on chin and throat.
status, distribution and habitat. Breeding sparsely in NW. Pakistan
south of Kohat, and in Baluchistan. Chiefly winter visitor in Baluchistan,
Sind, Punjab, NWFP and in NW. India (to Kashmir, Punjab, U.P.,
V Rajasthan, N. Gujarat). Rare in Madhya Pradesh, taken at Raipur (21°
I6 # N., 81°42'E*) — D f Abrcu. Along foot of hills from jhelum to Peshawar
and on through Kohat to border of Afghanistan at Paradhinar, both F. p>
350 FALCONIFORMES
babylmkus and F. p. peregrinate found doling breeding season (Rattray,
Ibis 1919: 370), Affects barren stony semi-desert tracts with sand mounds,
Capparis bushes, scattered trees of Prosopis spidgera and atherxerophytic
species — largely the neighbourhood of cultivation in such biotope.
Extralimital. Breeds in W. and G. Asia from Mesopotamia (Iraq) to the
Gobi Desert, south to Persia and Baluchistan. Winters in NW* India (Peters).
For biology in Turkestan and discussion on distribution, variation, moult,
etc. see Dementiev, 1957, Ibis 99: 477-82.
general rabits. Very similar to those of the Peregrine and Shahcen
falcons except for its habitat preference of barren desert country and rocky
hills. Inclined to be somewhat crepuscular like the Peregrine, hunting more
actively at dawn and fairly late in the evening. Has sometimes been observed
stooping playfully at birds on the wing, apparently with no intention to kill.
food. Partridges, sandgrouse, and other birds. Presumably also gerbilles,
lizards and large insects as available. Sometimes takes early-flying bats.
voice and calls. Unrecorded.
breeding. On circumstantial evidence breeds in Baluchistan, but no
direct confirmation by nest or eggs as yet. Two young recorded as taken
from an eyrie in the Gumal Pass (32° 2'N., 70°10'E.) at r. 650 m. alt.,
Dera Ismail Khan dist., W. Pakistan (date?), and believed to breed in
some numbers in the hills about the Khyber Pass. Nest and site as in 211,
q.v. Eggs, 3 Or 4, creamy white blotched and spotted with reddish brown,
but showing considerable variation in coloration and markings. Size c. 53
X 43 mm.
Museum Diagnosis. First primary (as.) longer than 3rd. Cheek-stripe narrower
than eye; rufous-buff nuchal collar; head ashy grey and rufous. For details of plumage
see Baker, loc. dt.
MEASUREMENTS
Wing
Bill
(from feathers)
Tarsus
Tail
273-284
23-26
45-46
126-135 mm.
99
320-338
26-28
53-55
151-158 mm.
(Baker)
A 9 weighed 2 lb. 1 oz. =* 930 gm. (Hume).
colours of bare parts. Iris deep brown. Bill slaty blue, blackish at tip, some-
times yellowish at base; cere, orbital skin and gape bright yellow. Legs and feet
bright to deep yellow; claws black.
211. Shahcen Falcon. Falco peregrinus peregrinator Sundevall
Falco peregrinator Sundevall, 1837, Physiogr. Salbkapets Tidsskr,, 1(2): 177, pi. 4
(At sea in lat. 6°20'N. between Ceylon and Sumatra, 70 Swedish miles
[« 700 kilometres] off the Nicobars)
Baker, FBI No. 1719, Vol, 5: 34
Plate 13, fig. 2, hieing p. 240
local names. Shflieen Mi 9, Kabila <? (Hindi); Kmdla gopa (Sifthalajt
VHKMt (TataM); K&nrnpuHu (Malayalam).
size. Kite - ; Jungle Grow ±. Length c. 38-46 cm. (15-18 in.). '
F At CONS 351
*taao» characters. Very like the Peregrine (209) — a powerful, broad-
shouldered, streamlined falcon with long pointed wings, and swift direct
fllfehfc
Adult. Above f slaty black with black head and prominent cheek or
moustachial stripes on either side of throat Below, pinkish white and rusty
red, boldly cross-barred with black from abdomen down. Sexes alike;
female larger.
Young (immature). Darker. More brownish black above; more fer-
ruginous below.
status, distribution and habitat. Resident and breeding in NW.
Pakistan (Thai, Chitral, Kohat dists.) and the entire Indian Union from
about 2400 m. alt. in the Himalayas from Kashmir, Punjab, Himachal
Pradesh, U.P. and Nepal, eastward through Assam; southward throughout
the Peninsula to S. Kerala (with the exception of the desert and semi-desert
areas in western Rajasthan and northern and western Gujarat where mostly
babylonicus ) . E. Pakistan; Ceylon. Affects foothills and rugged hilly country
to the highest peninsular hills.
Extralimital . Burma east to the lower Yangtze valley in E. Chiya.
general habits. Very similar to the Peregrine (209), but keeps more to
steep rugged hills than about lowland waterfowl resorts. Pairs occupy
favourite crags, almost traditionally, for nesting and as bases for foraging
over vast tracts of the surrounding countryside. Flight extremely swift and
direct — a few rapid pigeon-like wing-beats followed by a glide at tremen-
dous speed. Like the Peregrine hurls itself obliquely at its quarry from a
height, or ‘ pitch \ wings pressed to the sides, sometimes over a traverse
of several hundred yards — literally a bolt from the blue. The loud tearing
swish of this lightning stoop overhead can be quite disconcerting to an
observer taken unawares, and by the time he can locate its source the falcon
is already vanishing in the distance, maybe with the quarry dangling limply
from its talons! Inclined to be somewhat crepuscular, hunting mostly soon
after dawn and then again late afternoon and well into the dusk. In the
breeding season pairs indulge in a great deal of aerial interplay, stooping at
each other around their nesting cliff and deep down into the adjoining gorges
with incredible speed and adroitness, going through remarkable aerobatics,
throwing themselves momentarily upon their backs in mock battle, and
executing perfect looping-the-loop turns.
food. Chiefly birds: chukor, partridges, quails, pigeons, etc. In some
areas parakeets, mainly Psittacula krameri , form a major food item. Nightjars
(Cqprimulgus spp.) and bats also recorded. Easily trained to strike large birds
like mallard, florican, and junglefowl, but crows said to afford far finer
sport than all of these.
voice and calls. Unrecorded except for a prolonged rAtV-r-r-r made by
the female every now and then in the proximity of the nest-diff, especially
when nest being investigated (Dodsworth).
breeding. Season, in the Himalayas (up to c . 2400 m. ) chiefly March
to May; in the peninsular and S. Indian hills January to Maxch/April; in
Ceylon <?, March-April. Nest, a large compact platform of sticks sometimes
lined with wool and grass, placed on a ledge or in a niche on a chffface —
usually inaccessible situations. Often no nest, the eggs being laid directly
352 FALCONIFORMES
on scanty grass growing on a ledge. (An exceptional record of a tree nest
presumably self-built by the birds, in the top of a pine in Burma.— Livesey*
JBNHS 36; 1003). Eggs, 3 or 4, pale stone to pale brict-red in ground
colour, marked in varying degree with a few bold blotches or numerous
small ones, of reddish brown or brick-red. Average size of 65 eggs 5| *8 X
40*7 mm., (Baker). Both sexes take part in nest-building and repair. In-
cubation evidently by female alone; the male when not hunting keeps watch
from a neighbouring pinnacle. During daytime eggs often left exposed,
shaded from direct sun by female standing over them with half-open wings.
Incubation period 25-27 days (Baker). Chicks (a couple of days old) clad
in white down. Iris light brown; legs and feet creamy white (Dodsworth).
Museum Diagnosis. First primary (as.) longer than 3rd. Crown black or blackish.
Cheek-stripe broader than eye, sometimes fused into black of crown. No nuchal
collar. Breast generally deep rufous. For details of plumage see Baker, loc, cit.
MEASUREMENTS
Wing Bill Tarsus ' Tail
(from feathers)
<?<? 265-295 25-27 48-50 128-162 mm,
p 9* 312-342 28-29 — — mm.
(Baker)
Middle toe with claw c? c. 53-55; 9 c. 60-63 mm.
Wingspread of an ad. o' 1 with wing 295 mm. — 911 mm. ( MeinerUhagen) .
colours of bare parts. As in the Peregrine and Redcapped falcons. In juvenal
birds of races of peregrirms, legs and feet yellow contra bluish in other immature
falcons.
Falco subbuteo Linnaeus
Key to the Subspecies
Darker F. s . subbuteo
Paler F. s. centralasia e
212. Hobby. Falco subbuteo subbuteo Linnaeus
Falco Subbuteo Linnaeus, 1758, Syst. Nat., cd. 10, 1: 89
(Europe, restricted type locality, Sweden)
Hypotriorckis subbuteo jakutmsis Buturlin, 1910, Nascha Okhota : 71
(Chuckche, NE. Siberia)
Baker, FBI No, 1724, Vol. 5: 42
local name. Morassani (Oudh, U.P.),
size. Dove or Pigeon ±; length c. 31-34 cm. (12-13 in.),
field characters. A small, pointed-winged streamlined falcon.
Adult. Above, slaty grey with blackish head and mcmstachial streaks.
Below , rusty white, broadly streaked with black. Thighs and under tail*
coverts rufous. Sexes alike ; female larger. In overall effect a very good
miniature of the Peregrine falcon, but with underparts longitudinally
streaked instead of cross-barred.
Young (immature). Much darker above, brownish rather than slaty,
scalloped with rusty whitish.
FALCONS 353
status, distribution and habitat. Winter visitor (September to March/
April) to W. Pakistan (Baluchistan, Sind, NWFP, Punjab) and India south
to about Mysore (Belgaum). Also Nepal and E. Pakistan; but the races not
clearly separable. Affects open wooded country, cultivated areas, as well as
semi-desert.
Extralimital. ‘Breeds from Scandinavia and N. Russia across Asia to
E. Siberia and Kamchatka, south to the Mediterranean, SW. Siberia,
Transbaikalia (and probably NW. China) and Manchuria. In winter south
to Africa, India, and SE. China ' (Peters)*
general habits, Toon, etc. As in the Central Asian race (213), q.v.
breeding, Extralimital. Nest, eggs, etc. as in 213.
Museum Diagnosis. Similar to F. s. centralasiae but somewhat darker and on an
average a trifle smaller. For description of plumage etc. see Witherby 1939, 3: 20-2 L
MEASUREMENTS
*
Wing
BH1
(from cere)
Tarsus
Tail
247-272
(one 240)
12.5-14
(one 11.5)
34-37
130-140 mm.
(one 122)
9 9
265-280
—
—
— mm.
(Witherby)
colours op bare parts. A d u 1 1. Iris dark brown. Bill leaden blue, tip bluish
black; cere, gape, bare skin round eye, legs and feet bright yellow. Immature.
Cere and round eye pale lead-blue or greenish. Legs and feet paler yellow (Witherby).
213, Central Asian Hobby* Falco subbuteo centralasiae (Buturlin)
Hypotriorchis subbuteo centralasiae Buturlin, 1911, Orn. Mitt., 2: 175, new name for
Falco subbuteo cyanescens Lftnnberg, 1905, Ark. Zool., 6(9): 6 (Baimgol, Tianshan)
nec Falco cyanescens Vicillot
Hypotriorchis subbuteo planicola Portenko, 1930, Bull. Acad. Sci. USSR, ser. 7, Cl.
Physico-Math. : 308 (Yarkand Oasis, Kashgaria)
Baker, FBI No. 1725, Vol. 5:43
Plate 18, fig. 1, lacing p. 336
local name. Morassani (Oudh, U.P.).
siee. Dove or Pigeon ±5 length c. 31-34 cm. (12-13 in.).
field characters. Same as for 212 from which it cannot be distinguished
with certainty. In general effect and actions reminiscent of the Peregrine
and Shaheen falcons.
status, distribution and habitat. Partly resident in the Himalayas,
breeding between c, 1200 and 4000 m. alt. in NWFP, Ladakh, Kashmir,
Himachal Pradesh, U.P. (Garhwal). Mainly extralimital winter visitor
(September- March/April) , spreading out unevenly over W. Pakistan (Sind,
Baluchistan, Punjab) and India east through Assam and Manipur, south
to N. Mysore. Also E. Pakistan; but the races not clearly separable. In
non-breeding season affects similar biotope to the last, the two forms often
overlapping.
Extralimital. Turkestan south to N. Persia and E. Himalayas — Peters.
general habits. Partial to low-lying swampy ground in wooded country.
Even in its residential and adjacent areas more commonly seen in winter
when its numbers have been augmented by extralimital migrants. Distinctly
S3
$54 FALCONIFORMES
crepuscular ; feeds chiefly in the twilight of dawn and often well
into the dusk. The birds fly about in curves and circles, climbing and sinking
at will, flying straight some distance with rapid wing-beats followed fey a
downward swoop of 30 metres or so, and then a swift effortless rise. While
soaring the primaries are slanted slightly downwards almost below level
of back. Chases cicadas, dragonflies and small birds at great speed with rapid
wing-beats followed by arrow-like glides a few metres above die ground.
On catching its prey rises like a kite 20 or 30 metres up in the air, sailing
slowly round in circles, devouring the victim from its talons. like the
Shaheen sometimes soars to a * pitch 1 and * waits on’, stooping obliquely
with tremendous velocity and taking the quarry in its stride. Occasionally
will also hover for a moment over a field of gram or lucerne * waiting bn ’
for some small bird or grasshopper to take wing. Sometimes hawks winged
insects in a loose flock of ten or more birds in the manner of swifts, high up
in the air, turning, twisting, rising, falling, circling round and darting at
the quarry with great agility. Has been observed thus engaged in association
with swallows ( Hirundo rustica and H. daurica), which themselves frequently
form its prey (SA).
pood. Small birds (larks, pipits, swallows, wagtails, swifts, warblers,
etc.), pipistrelle bats, and flying insects (dragonflies, cicadas, locusts, beetles,
etc.). Can be easily tamed and taught to ‘ wait on * at great heights for
pursuit of larks, drongos, quails, hoopoes, etc, but ‘ lacks the dash and daring
of the Merlin and is disappointing from the falconry point of view * (Donald).
voice and calls. Very noisy in breeding season. 4 A harsh, plaintive,
rising tee-tee-tee-tec-tee as common to most falcons, occasionally varied with
harsh single notes pit pit or chip chip chip uttered two or three times in suc-
cession while flying about in circles above the trees, settling here and there
on different trees 9 (Whistler, JBNHS 32: 730-2).
breeding. Season , principally May to July. Nest, usually an old stick
nest of crow or magpie high up in a fir, deodar, or poplar tree on the out-
skirts of forest, repaired and utilized. Eggs, 3 or 4, dull yellowish buff to
pale brick-red densely speckled and spotted with dull brick-rcd and brown,
sparsely blotched with purplish black. Average size of 28 eggs 41*4 X 33 ‘0
mm, (Baker). Incubation mostly by female; period unrecorded. * Male
brought plucked bird and passed it to incubating female who left nest to
receive and deal with it on a nearby branch ’ (Whistler, loc. cit.).
Nestling covered with down ‘ of isabelline shade ' (A. E. Jones).
Museum Diagnosis. Second primary (as.) longest; first much longer than 4th.
Middle toe without daw under 40 mm. Breast white or buff with brown streaks.
F, s. centrcdasiae differs from nominate subbuteo in being somewhat paler and on an
average a trifle larger, but race very variable and of doubtful validity. For details
of plumage see Baker, loc. cit.
measurements. Wing c^d 1 230-275; 9 9 277-286 mm.
colours or bare parts, As in 212.
Falco severus Horsfield
Kay tothe Sabspedei
Darker; lower plumage very deep ferruginous. ........ .F. i. semus
Paler; lower plumage less deep ferruginous F. r, tvppedoid**
FALCONS 455
214. Indian fibbby* Falco severus ruftptdaides Hodgson
Fake l lufiptdoides Anonymous ® Hodgson, 1844, Calc, Jour, Nat. Hut, 4: 238
(Hills of India, restricted to Nepal by Baker, 1927, Bull, Brit, Om, Cl., 47:107)
Baker, FBI No, 1 729, Vol. 5: 47
Plate 13, fig, 6, facing p* 240
local Havas. Dkutar c? * DhUH 9 (Hindi).
size. Dove ±; length c. 27-30 cm. (1 1-12 in.).
field characters. Very similar to 212 but with breast and underparts
ferruginous instead of rusty white. In overall effect a good miniature of
Shaheen falcon, just as 212 is of the Peregrine. Sexes alike; female larger.
Young (immature). Above, very dark, narrowly scalloped with rufous
in freshly moulted plumage. Below, boldly black-streaked from upper breast
to vent,
status, distribution and habitat. Resident and breeding in the lower
Himalayas [c. 1800 to 2400 m.) in W. Pakistan (Murree?), Kashmir? and
through Kumaon, Garhwal, and Nepal to W. Assam north of Brahmaputra
river. Occurs also in Kerala (chiefly hills) where status indeterminate.
Presumably only winter visitor; no breeding record to date. Straggler to
Ceylon in winter. Affects well-wooded foothills country.
general habits. Very similar to F. s. subbuteo (212, 213), qq.v. Often seen
in loose flocks of ten or twelve birds hawking insects in the manner of
swallows and swifts — darting at speed in pursuit, wheeling and circling
in the air, chiefly in the twilight of dawn and at sunset till late into the
dusk. Prey either eaten on the wing or carried to a perch.
food. Chiefly large flying insects — locusts, cicadas, beetles, dragonflies,
etc. Also small birds, and occasionally lizards, pipistrelle bats, and mice.
9 Hunting small chickens ne<C i lowland villages * (Fleming, Nepal).
voice and calls. Only a loud squealing rapid ki-ki-ki-ki recorded. ‘ Cry is
rather shriller and weaker than that of the Kestrel * (Bourdillon, SF 4: 354).
breeding. Very little definite information. Season, * probably late May
and June ’ (Baker). A pair feeding young in nest in tall pine in British
Embassy grounds, Kathmandu, Nepal — July- August (Proud, JBNHS
48; 716). Nest, of sticks, usually an old crow’s or magpie’s, in a pine or
similar tree growing from the side of a precipice. According to Baker ap-
parently has two alternate nests at varying distances from each other, used
in irregular sequence. Eggs, 3 or 4, broad ovals, very like those of F, s.
subbuteo — buff, reddish buff or light brick-red in ground colour, densely
speckled with dark brick-red, brownish red or purplish red, with many
variations. Size about 41 X 31 mm.
Museum Diagnosis, Middle toe without claw under 40 mm. Second primary
(as.) longest; 1st much longer than 4th. Breast rufous or ferruginous, unspotted
in adults. Differs from the nominate race (215) only in having the lower plumage
paler and less deep ferruginous. But this in effect merely represents a colour dine
and the race is perhaps redundant. There is no significant difference in size.
MEASUREMENTS
Wing Bill Tarsus Tafi
(from feathers)
211-219 17 94-95 mm* 1
33—34
8# 237-248 19 105-112 mm.
(Baker)
9SG FALCON1FQRMES
qoloursof barb parts. Iria hazel-brown to almost black* Bill bluish slate,
paler at base, black at tip; cere, gape and orbital skin lemon-yellow. Legs and feat
yellow to grange-yellow; daws black.
215. Burmese Hobby* Falco severus severus Horsfield
Falco severus Horsficld, 1821, Trans. Linn. Soc. London, 13(1): 135 (Java)
Baker, FBI No. 1728, Vol. 5: 45
local sames. Unrecorded.
size. Same as 214.
field characters . Same as for 214 but with breast and underparts much
deeper ferruginous. The two races indistinguishable with certainty.
status, distribution and habitat. Resident. Assam south of the Brahma-
putra river, Manipur; E. Pakistan. Affects well-wooded foothills country.
ExtralimitaL Burma, Thailand, Indochinese countries, Sumatra, Java,
Philippines.
general habits, food, etc. Similar to the other hobbies. In northern
Assam (Dibrugarh dist.) frequents tea gardens and edge of forest and paddy
land.
voice and calls. Not specifically recorded.
breeding. Season , March to May in the Assam hills. Nest, usually an
appropriated old one of a crow or magpie in a tree growing out of a precipice
or steep hillside; repaired and sometimes added to and lined with green twigs
and leaves. Eggs , 3 or 4, as in 214. Average size of 54 eggs 40*1 x31 ‘9
mm. (Baker). Both sexes take part in nest-repair, incubation, and feeding
the young. Incubation period 26 days (Baker).
Museum Diagnosis. Differs from the Indian race rufipedoides (214) only in having
the lower plumage much darker and deeper ferruginous.
MEASUREMENTS
Wing Bill Tarsus Tail
(from feathers)
221-238 r. 18 (?) c. 30-33 95-110 mm.
(‘ Apparently all females ’ — Baker)
3 9 9 recently taken in NE. Assam measure :
(from skull)
22 1-245 ■ 5 23-25 30-40 95-115 nutt.
(SA, SDR)
COLOURS OF BARE PARTS. Asin214.
216. Sooty Falcon. Falco concolor Tcmminck
Falco concolor Temminck, 1825, PI. Col., ltvr. 56, text (but not pL 330) (Senegal,
Barbary Coast, Egypt, Arabia. Barakan Island, Gulf of Aqaba, suggested by
Meinertzhagen , 1954, Birds of Arabia; 340)
Not in Baker, FBI
local names. Unrecorded.
size. Jungle Grow±; length c . 38 cm. ( 0 * 15 in.)*
FALCONS 357
«BU> characters. General aspect as of Hobby (212), but slightly larger
and uniformly pale slaty grey above and below, with prominent yellow cere
and leg*. Sexes alike; female larger.
Young (immature). Not unlike that of F. subbuteo but with the pale
nuchal patch of the latter almost absent.
STATUS, distribution and habitat. Only once obtained in W. Pakistan
(ad- <?. Charbar, Baluchistan Coast, 31 August 1912 — W. D. C umming ),
The specimen, which was examined by Dr C. B. Ticehurst in the Quetta
Museum, was evidently destroyed in the great earthquake of 1936.
Extralimital. ’Red Sea coasts and Somaliland south to Mozambique;
Madagascar ’ — Peters. ’
general habits, food, etc. According to Meinertzhagen (1954: 340)
crepuscular, with a very hobby-like flight; catching bats on the wing with
ease. (For extralimital breeding, habits, etc. see Clapham. 1964, Ibis, 106:
381.)
Museum Diagnosis. ‘ Adults (both sexes) : Whole upperparts pale slaty grey,
primaries blackish. First primary unbarred on the inner web. All feathers of upper-
parts with dark shafts. Chin and centre of throat pale yellowish buff. Rest of under-
parts pale slate-grey. Tail as back. The immature bird is browner and has the feathers
fringed paler. Cheeks and throat rusty yellow ’ (Meinertzhagen, Birds of Egypt: 374).
measurements. Wing 267-305 (Meinertzhagen). The Charbar specimen ((f)
measured: Wing 278; bill from cere 13; tarsus 33; middle toe 32-5; tail 133 mm.
(Ticehurst) s
COLOURS OF BARE parts. Iris dark brown. Bill bluish horn; cere lemon-yellow.
Legs and feet lemon-yellow; claws black.
Falco columbarius Linnaeus
Key to the Subspecies
Darker both above and below in both sexes
Paler Ct
, . .F. c. imignis
chrislianiludovici
217. North Asiatic Merlin, Falco columbarius insignis (Clark)
Atsaltm regulus insignis Clark, 1907, Proc. U.S. Nat. Mus., 32; 470 (Fusan, Korea)
Baker, FBI No. 1731, Vol. 5 ; 49
Plate 18, fig. 6, facing p* 336
tOCAL NAMES. Daurela d\ Daurdi 9 (Hindi); Ritdl turumti , Regi (Punjab).
size* Dove ±; length c . 27-30 cm. (11-12 in,).
FIELD characters. Rather like Hobby (212) but without the cheek-
stripes.
Males (Adult). Abm> forehead, superdlium, and sides of head whitish
with black shaft-streaks. Upperparts bluish slaty with a broad rufous-and-
biack hindcollar. Tail tipped white, with broad subterminal black band.
Btlaw, sides of throat and underparts white tinged with rufous ahd boldly
Streaked with blackish; thighs and under tail-coverts darker rufous.
338 FALCONIFORMES
Female* Larger* Abm y slaty brown scalloped with rufous. Tail batted
throughout with dark brown and rufous-grey. Bdow y paler than in male*
more broadly streaked with brown.
Y o un g (immature) . Abm $ brown without any slaty tinge. Rufous of
scalloping and head more pronounced.
STATUS; Ihstribution and habitat. Scarce winter visitor (vagrant?) to
West Pakistan [Baluchistan (Quetta-Pishin; Loralai dist.) and Sind (race
presumed)!* Has been obtained as a vagrant in Gilgit and Punjab in winter.
According to Donald apparently not very rare in Punjab, arriving in autumn,
leaving again in spring. Affects open country with scrub and cultivation.
ExtralimitaL Breeds in N. Siberia across Yakutsk to the Stanovoy Moun-
tains. In winter to Turkestan, N. India, S. China, Japan.
general habits* Hunts singly (not in pairs like F. chicquera) in open
places, particularly crops, for larks and such-like small birds. Perches on
the ground or on a mound or bund separating fields from where the sorties
are launched. Occasionally hovers momentarily. Flies low along the ground,
very fast with short sharp wing-beats interspersed with glides with
half-closed wings. Seldom or never soars, and though often striking prey
from above does not stoop at it from any distance or great height. Prey
usually captured by swift, direct pursuit. Much esteemed for falconry. Very
easily tamed and trained for pursuit of quails, hoopoes, larks, etc. Exhibits
great speed and courage in the chase, turning, twisting, zigzagging, rising
and falling in the air after the quarry with utmost adroitness.
foop. Mostly small birds. * Took a Desert Wheatear from under my
nose * in Sind (Ticehurst).
breeding. ExtralimitaL Nests on ground among grass and herbaceous
vegetation, or in trees utilizing old stick-nests of crows, etc.
Museum Diagnosis. Middle toe without claw under 40 mm. as in Hobby, but
2nd and 3rd primaries subequal, and 1st and 4th subequal. Differs from F. c. christiani-
tudomci (218) in both sexes being much darker above and below. For details of
plumage, see Baker, loc. cit.
MEASUREMENTS
Wing
Bill
Tarsus
Tafl
(from feathers)
<?£?
196-204
14-15
e. 34-39
121-138 mm.
99
220-224
15-16
(Baker)
colours of bare parts. Iris brown. Bill slaty blue, black at tip, yellowish
at base of lower mandible; cere yellow. Legs and feet yellow; claws black.
218. Pallid Merlin* Falco columbarius christianiludovid KJeinschmidt
Falco christiam-ludooici Kleinschmidt, 1917, Falco, 13(2) ; 10 (Caucasus)
Baker, FBI No. 1732, Voi. 5: 50
LOCAL NAMES. As in 217.
SIZE. Dove ±; same as 217.
field characters. Much paler than 217, the adult a beautiful pale
blue-grey above. Female and Young (immature) also paler; in general
■ FALCONS ■
cflfect rufous rather than rufous-brown. Bars on primaries in bothsexes
especially pale.
Status, distribution and habitat. Uncommon. Vagrant in winter to
W. Pa k ista n (spedmens in the British Museum collection from Peshawar
mid Kohat districts, and Sind) ; also from Gilgit. Meinertzhagen procured
one in Ladakh at c. 3000 m. alt. (Dr as, 34°26'N., 75*46'E.) on 15 April.
, ExtraUmitcd. ‘ Breeds on die Kirghiz Steves from Orenburg to the Altai,
north to Omsk and Lake Tschany. Winters to the Caucasus, Turkestan and
Tarim Basin ’ (Peters) .
GENERAL HABITS, FOOD, etc. As in 217.
Museum Diagnosis. Differs from insignis (2 1 7) in both adults and juveniles being
very much paler.
measurements. Wing 203-226; 9 9 200-232 mm. (Baker); in Meinertz-
hagen’s 9 from Ladakh 230 mm.
colours of bare farts. Bill paler bluish; cere paler yellow. Otherwise as in 217.
219. Redheaded Merlin. Falco chicquera chicquera Daudin
Falco chicquera Daudin, 1800, Trait6 d’Om., 2: 121 (Bengal)
Baker, FBI No. 1730, Vol. 5: 47
Plate IS, fig. 4, facing p. 336
local names. TurSmH, Turamt&ri 9 (Hindi); Ch&twa <? (Sind); JtUagmla ,
Jelgddda (Telugu) ; Jelkdt (Yerukali).
size. Pigeon ±; length c. 31-36 cm. (12-14 in.).
field characters. An elegant little grey-and-white falcon with a diagno-
stic chestnut head.
Adult. Above, crown, nape, sides of head and cheek-stripe chestnut.
Rest of upperparts ashy or bluish grey. Wing-quills blackish. Tail grey,
narrowly barred with black, and with a broad black band near end ; extreme
tip white. Below, white, sparsely streaked with blackish on breast, barred
on flanks and abdomen. Sexes alike; female larger.
Young (immature). More heavily barred below than adult. In still
younger birds upperparts also barred throughout; chestnut of head duller,
more rufous, and streaked with black; throat and breast also heavily marked
with black.
status, distribution and habitat. Resident and breeding. Not very
common, but fairly, generally distributed throughout the subcontinent, from
W. Pakistan (Baluchistan, Sind, NWFP) eastward through Rajasthan and
the Gangetic Plain (including the Himalayan foothills, terai, and Nepal
Valley) to Assam and E. Pakistan. Southward through the Peninsula to
Kerala and Madras (southernmost Tirunelveli c. 8°45'N.). Not in Ceylon.
Common on die Deccan Plateau; rarely descending to the coastal districts.
Apparently also partial local migrant, or nomadic, to some extent. Recorded
as abundant in some localities in winter and as scarce in other seasons, but
movements unstudied. Affects deciduous plains, plateau and low foothills
country interspersed with groves of trees, cultivation and villages. Avoids
forest. .
360 FALGONIFORMES
general habits. Male and female almost invariably keep together and
hunt in c etacert, one bird chasing the quarry close along the ground at
incredible speed while the other heads it off. Its pursuit flight; attained by
rapid, regular wing-beats, is straight and arrowlike; very different from the
Merlin {Ff columbarius) which goes in jerks and/ jumps \ Often beats out
prey from shrubbery or foliage canopy, by suddenly darting through a gap
in them or hedge-hopping at speed, stampeding any little birds sheltering
within or bn the ground behind. Like the Merlin will also hover moment-
arily at times to investigate. Possesses the audacity of the Peregrine, some-
times swooping suddenly from nowhere, snatching a bird fallen to gunshot
or chasing one thus wounded completely undeterred by the sportsman’s
warning shots. Gomes down to water to drink, and walks easily on ground.
Much esteemed by falconers for its pluck, and the ease with which it can
be tamed and trained to take birds like hoopoes, rollers, quails, and even
partridges and pigeons; pairs often made to hunt in coordination as in the
wild state.
pood. Mainly small birds. Among items specifically recorded are spar-
rows (csp. Passer montanus ), wagtails, pipits, larks (esp. the social Calandrella
spp.), ring plovers ( Charadrius dubius) t and not unfrequcntly mice and
bats. From the stomachs of a pair shot simultaneously were obtained the
right and left leg respectively, along with other remains of a warbler
(Prinia sylvatica } which had evidently been shared and shared alike!
(SA).
voice and calls. * Peculiar shrill querulous screams ’ as it sallies to
drive off crows and kites from proximity of nest-tree. * A continual tiriririri -
tiriririri * uttered by full-fledged young when being chased off by (presumed)
parent (K. K. NecJakantan).
breeding. Season , chiefly January to March, but continuing till about
May. Nest, a fairly substantial cup or platform of sticks and twigs, lined with
grass roots. Usually well concealed 5 to 10 metres up in the densely foliaged
branches of a mango or peepul tree in open country, often close to a village.
Old nests of kites and crows are sometimes brought into commission. Eggs,
3 or 4, longish regular ovals, pale reddish white in ground colour, thickly
speckled with reddish brown. Small replicas of the eggs of Laggar falcon.
Average size of 120 eggs 42 *4 X 31*1 mm. (Baker). Both sexes share in
nest-building and repair and evidently also in incubation, though the
female is chiefly responsible for this. Incubation period unknown. Both
parents feed the young.
Museum Diagnosis. As in F. columbarius 2nd and 3rd primaries (as.) subequal ;
1st and 4th subequal, but crown chestnut instead of black-streaked grey or brown
as in that species. For details of plumage see Baker, loc. cit.
MEASUREMENTS
, Wing Bill Tarsus Tail
(from skull)
190-207 19-24 35-40 124-137 mm.
9 9 220-232 r, 25 38-41 14&-156mm,
(Baker, SA, BB)
colours of bare FARTS. Iris brown. Bill dark plumbeous* black at tip, greenish
yellow on basal half; cere and orbital skin yellow, Legs and feet yellow; daws blank.
FALCONS 361
2264 Eftiterift Redlegged Falcon. Falco vespertinus amurensis Radde
Bake vespertinus var. amurensis Radde, 1863, Rcisen siid von Ost-5ibir., 2: 102! pi. 1,
f. 2a, 2b (Amur)
Baker, FBI No* 1739, Vol. 5: 58 ( ■* Erythropus amurensis)
Plate IS, fig. 3, facing p. 336
LOCAL name. Daotu kagra (Cachari).
&&R. Pigeon — ; length c. 28-31 cm. (11-12 in.).
field characters. A small, rare migratory falcon.
Adult (male)* Above, slaty grey. Below , ashy grey with deep ferruginous-
red vent, thighs, and under tail-coverts. Distinctive orange-red orbital skin,
cere and legs. Birds in this plumage easily distinguishable, but rare in the
migrating flocks. Could casually be confused only with Sooty Falcon (216)
q.v.
In flight (somewhat reminiscent of pratincole when hawking insects) dark
body and black wing-quills contrasting with grey axillaries and wing lining,
together with red legs and cere, are diagnostic features.
Female. Above , including tail, slaty grey barred with black. Crown dark
slate; whitish nuchal collar on hindneck; black cheek-stripe. Below, pale
rusty white with longitudinal black spots on upper breast, bars on lower
breast and flanks; unmarked on lower abdomen. Underwing white, barred
black.
Young (immature). Like female but upperparts browner and scalloped
with rufous. Below, more heavily barred and broadly spotted. Intermediate
stages between this and adult plumage common.
status, distribution and habitat. In NE. India evidently partly re-
sident, but mainly passage migrant. Breeds casually in N. Cachar vide
Baker, where previously recorded by Hume as disappearing about mid-
December and reappearing in large numbers about mid-October in the
following year. Recorded as a regular cold-weather visitor to N. Assam
(Dibrugarh dist.) and Manipur, and as * comparatively common during the
rains in E. Bengal * ( !). In peninsular India only a through migrant to and
from E. and S. Africa. Stragglers, obviously in transit, observed or
collected between September and April (autumn and spring passage) in
the Nilgiris, Carnatic, Nellore, Rajamundry, Madura districts, and once near
Bombay. Rare straggler to Ceylon; one old record for Nepal (Hodgson’s).
Apparently sparse winter visitor to the Maidive Islands (Phillips 1963).
Extralimital , * Breeds in Siberia east of Lake Baikal to Amurland south
to Manchuria and N. China to the Tsin-ling Mountains. Winters in E.
and S. Africa from Kenya Colony to Cape Province * (Peters).
migration. Records such as 4 a huge flock numbering some thousands
passing Belgaum (15°54'N M 74°36'E.) on 24 November (Butler, SF,
9: 371), * immense scattered flocks in November-December in some years
all along the coast near Karwar ’ (N. Kanara dist., Mysore, r. 14°3Q'N,
lat) — Davidson, JBNHS 12: 16), and of 4 large numbers’ in the same
locality in November (E, H. Aitken, MS), suggest that the bulk of the
migration between NE. India and E, Africa — - at least in autumn — takes
place across the Indian Ocean from somewhere in this area in a continuing
NE,~SWf trend. It is a regular winter visitor to East Africa (Nyasaland,
now Malawi) arriving December, moat abundant January-February, leaving
362 FALCONIFORMES
again March (Benson 1951, Ibis, 93:467-8). Significantly these aeon to
be no records in NW. India, nod none either from the northern Arabian
Sen or across in Sudan or Egypt, thus supporting the hypothesis that a
large proportion of the migrants traverse southern peninsular India in a
NE.-SW. trend. However, from a flock of about 100 encountered by him in
April near , Mecca (e. 21°26'N., 39°49'E.) Meinertzhagen is inclined to
believe that some mass migration almost certainly takes place over Arabia*
at least in; spring, when also incredible numbers pass north Jh central
Kenya, posnbly veering eastward somewhere about the Equator. Many
observed by him and SA (presumably this race) migrating northward with
Lesser Kestrels in N. Afghanistan, 24 April (Ibis, 1938: 701).
fa/co vnptrtinut amurtntls
general kabits. During migration stop-overs keeps in large flocks, or
swarms, of several hundred (or thousand) strong, often in company with
Lesser Kestrels (Falco naumami). The birds mill around in the air at sunset,
diving and darting at winged insects some 50 to 100 metres above open fallow
or grazing land, occasionally descending to skim along the bushes, or settle
on trees in clusters. Roosting in like manner after dark, preceded by a good
deal of circling around the foliage canopy in the manner of bee -eaters.
Sometimes hovers like kestrel when hunting. Said to be very good eating,
and much prized by Cacharis, as well as in East Africa.
food. Locusts, grasshoppers, beetles, winged termites, etc. hawked in
the air; sometimes picked off the ground in a swoop.
voice and calls. A shrill screaming accompanies the settling-in process,
continuing more or less through the night.
breeding. Mainly extralimital; casually in N. Cachar, Season, April-
May. JVsrf, of sticks, usually a disused one of magpie etc., in trees in open
FALCONS 368
ground, often round a village. Eggs, 4 to 6, in appearance like egg* of
comn^Kestrel with all its variations: creamy to brick-red in ground colour,
lightly or densely speckled and smeared with deep blood-red or blackish
red. Average size of 50 eggs 35-8 x 28-9 mm. (Baker). Both sexes incubate.
Museum Diagnosis. Second primary (as.) longest; 1st longer than 3rd For
details of plumage see Baker, loc. cit. Nominate vespcrtinus differs from amurensis
in male having the axUlaries and under wing-coverts white contra dark slaty grey;
in female having the crown and nape dark-streaked rusty brown contra dark slate.
MEASUREMENTS
Wing Bill Tarsus Tail
(from feathers)
<?9 230-246 16-18 28-33 124-131 nun,
colours OF BARE farts. Iris dark brown. Bill fleshy red, paler and yellower
at base, blackish at tip. Orbital skin and cere, orange-yellow — redder during
breeding season. Legs and feet orange-yellow to orange-red; daws pale fleshy horny.
221. Chinese Lesser Kestrel. Falco naumarmi pekinensis Swinhoe
Falco eenehris var. pekinensis Swinhoe, 1870, Proc. zool. Soc. London: 442
(Near Peking, China)
Baker, FBI No. 1745, Vol. 5: 66
Plate 18, fig. 7, lacing p. 336
local names. Unrecorded.
size. Pigeon ±; length c. 34 cm. (13 in.).
field characters. A small dainty, rather gregarious migratory falcon.
Male (adult). Above , head, neck, lower back, rump, and tail ashy grey,
the last with a broad black subterminal band and white tip. Mantle un-
spotted vinous brick-red, brighter looking than in Kestrel. Below , pale to
deep rufous with round black spots on breast and flanks; absent in old birds.
In overhead flight very pale wings and tail with black borders diagnostic.
Female. Above , pale rufous, cross-barred with black. Below , pale vinous-
buff densely streaked on breast and spotted on abdomen with blackish.
Indistinguishable from 9 Kestrel (q.v.) except on a clear view with bino-
culars when whitish , instead of black, claws diagnostic in all phases.
Young (immature). Like 9 ,but generally greyish on head and greyer
on tail.
status, distribution and habitat. Status uncertain. Dates and
regularity of occurrences, and distribution in India, unknown; also whether
both this and the nominate race ( naumanni ) occur. Apparently a rare winter
visitor; perhaps more correctly an irregular through passage migrant to
E. Africa like Redlegged Falcon, a few stragglers remaining behind. Sight
records and specimens — including some racially indeterminate, others of
nominate naumanni (?) — obtained between November and April as fol-
lows: Punjab (Ambala, Delhi), U.P. (Lucknow), Bihar (Dinapur), Orissa
(Balasore), Bengal (Calcutta), Assam (Dibrugarh, Naga Hills, NE. Cachar),
Manipur, Maharashtra (Sholapur e. 17°43'N., 75°56'E., * flock of several
hundred Ahmednagar c. 19°8'N., 74 <> 48'E., 'flock dozen* — both
in January (C, 5* Davidson), Madras (Coonoor — Nilgiris), Maidive
364 FALCQNIFQRMEfi
Islands (specimens identified as naumanni), December ( * probably an
winter visit#*’ — Phillips 1963)- Affects open savannah country and culti-
vation. %
ExtralimiUtl. * Breeds from Turkestan eastward to Manchuria and N,
China, exact limits not known. Migrates to India and occasionally to E.
Africa’ (Peters).
migration. Large flocks, obviously on mass migration, observed in Orissa
and Deccan during January. No other visual or ringing data,
general habits. Very similar to Kestrel (222), q.v., but much more gre-
garious. Hovering very distinctive. Carries body raised 45° instead of hori-
zontally as kestrel, beating wings backward and forward instead of up and
down (Mountfort 1962, Portrait of a River : 118). A large (migratory?)
swarm of 300 + birds observed by SA on 8 January (1950) in Orissa (Bal*
asore c, 21^30'N., 87°0'E.) preparing to roost at sunset in a lone leafy
tree standing amidst fallow fields. Flying in a rabble around the foliage
canopy like bee-eaters before retiring. Perching thickly like swallows along
adjacent telegraph wires looking remarkably like house crows in distant
silhouette in the falling dusk. Not known whether the swarm moved on next
day, but for several days subsequently odd birds were met with scattered
far and wide over the surrounding country.
food. Mainly insects; perhaps more insectivorous than Kestrel. Stomachs
of specimens examined were crammed exclusively with grasshoppers
(Orthoptera), beetles (Coleoptera), and mole-crickcts ( Gryllotalpa sp.).
Once a centipede ( Scolopendra ).
voice and calls. Not recorded.
breeding. Extralimital. Nests in holes in walls of buildings etc.; tends
to be colonial, several pairs nesting close to one another. Also utilizes old
stick-nests of crows or magpies. Eggs, 3 to 5 smaller and richer-coloured
replicas of those of Kestrel.
Wing formula of (A) Kestrel {Falco tinnuneuku ). Outer visible primaries:
lit and 2nd notched on inner web and 2nd and 3rd emargmated on
outer; 1st always considerably shorter than 3rd. (B) Lesser Kestrel
(Falco naumanni). 2nd not notched on inner web, 3rd not emargmated
on outer web, 1st usually longer and only occasionally shorter than 3rd,
FALCONS m
Museum Diagnoses. Differs from Kestrel in wing formula (see digram); in
male having the brick-red mantle unspotted, and lores and feathers neat the hill
rufous v, white or creamy white. Claws in both sexes pale yellow instead of black.
Nominate race naumanni (Europe, W. Asia) usually has less grey in median and
lesser wing-coverts, but this character variable. For details of plumage see Baker,
loc. cit
MEASUREMENTS
Wing
Bill
Tarsus
Tail
(from feathers)
c?9
222-244
16-17
32-35
142-156 mm.
Two adults measured in the flesh:
(from skull)
<?
250
20
34
161 mm.
9
241
20
34
146 mm.
Both in body moult and very fat, 8 January (SA).
colours or bare parts. Iris deep brown. Bill bluish horn, yellowish at base,
blackish at tip; cere and orbital skin orange-yellow. Legs and feet bright chrome
yellow; claws paler.
Falco tinnunculus Linnaeus
Key to the Subspecies
Colour of upperparts paler F. t. tinnunculus
Colour of upperparts richer, more brick-red F. /. objurgatus
Colour of upperparts darker, more heavily barred. F. t. inUrstincius
Page
365
368
367
222. European Kestrel. Falco tinnunculus tinnunculus Linnaeus
Falco Tinnunculus Linnaeus, 1758, Syst. Nat., ed. 10, 1;9Q
(Europe, restricted type locality, Sweden, apud Hartert)
Baker, FBI No. 1740, Voi. 5: 61
local names. Karontia, Koruttia, Khermutia , Narzinak Narzi 9 (Hindi);
Thonddld tmtchi gdddd, Thonddld doshi gddu (Telugu) ; Ting kyi (Lepcha) ; Chcrupullu
(Malay alam).
size. Pigeon±; length c . 36 cm. (14 in.).
field characters. A small, slender falcon with pointed wings and rather
rounded tail remarkable for its habit of hovering stationary in one spot for
many seconds at a time — ‘ hanging in the air \
Male (adult). Above , crown, nape, and sides of neck ashy grey finely
streaked with blackish. A blackish cheek-stripe. Mantle bright brick-red with
pear-shaped black spots. Rump, upper tail-coverts, and tail grey, the last
tipped with white and with a broad black subtenninal bar. Below , vinous-buff
streaked on breast and spotted on abdomen and Banks with blackish.
Female. Above, including crown and nape, pale rufous, cross-barred on
back with black. Rump and tail normally tinged with grey. Below, paler than
in male and with the markings denser and browner. Also slightly larger.
Young (immature). like 9 , but soon acquiring a good c^cal of grey
in tail, and grey rump and upper tail-coverts. (Completely blue-grey tail at
c . 15 months 1 moult — Ticehurst.)
36S ; FALCON I FOR MJES
status, i^TRmtmON and habitat. Breeds in W. Pakistan (N. Baluthi-
stan* NWF; Province, Punjab) and India in the W. Himalayas (Ladakh,
Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh) between c, 700 and 3300 metres alt. Com-
monly observed (non-breeding) above tree-line up to c. 5500 m. No direct
evidence as yet of breeding in E. Himalayas or Assam. If found, racial iden-
tity will need establishing. Winters throughout both Pakistan®, Nepal and
all India — plains and up to the highest peninsular hills — its numbers vastly
augmented by extralimital migrants, and overlapping with the other races.
Also winters in Ceylon, Andaman, Laccadive, and Maidive islands. Affects
open grassland, hill and plain; also cultivation and semi-desert.
Extralimital Also breeds in the Palaearctic Region, in Europe roughly
from between latitude 60° and 70°N. and eastward through the Ural
Mountains and W. Siberia to Tarbagatai and Altai; southward to N.
Africa and east through most of W. Asia to Mongolia and the Amur. Winters
south of these areas including the Indian subcontinent.
migration. Seen in the plains (non-breeding localities) in winter, be-
tween September/October and March/April. No ringing or other precise
data. Visual records of earliest and latest dates of arrival and departure
vitiated by uncertainty in racial identification. In N. Baluchistan (Chagai)
northward migration (of nominate race) observed in progress in April
(Christison, JBNHS 43: 484); near Kabul and in N. Afghanistan (race?)
between 13 April and 11 May (Meinertzhagen, Ibis 1938: 702). From the
fact of single birds (same individuals?) frequently found roosting in the
selfsame spots winter after winter — e.g. a particular niche or cornice in a
ruin — the species probably ‘ home true ’ to its winter quarters.
general habits. Usually met with singly in well staked-out feeding
territories, perched on the selfsame mound, bush or telegraph pole day after
day on the lookout for creeping prey, bobbing its head up and down to
focus on some movement in the grass, pouncing to the ground from time
to time and returning with the victim to its base. But the kestrel's most
characteristic method of hunting, in which it surpasses all other birds of
prey employing similar tactics, is its hovering. As it quarters its feeding
territory, 30 metres or so above, the bird suddenly stops dead in its flight
face to wind, poising stationary in mid-air for many seconds at a time on
rapidly vibrating wing-tips and fanned-out tail to investigate the ground
below. On further suspicion the bird drops a step lower, finally pouncing
silently on the quarry and bearing it away in its claws. In a strong headwind
seems to enjoy remaining effortlessly suspended aloft, as on some invisible
wire, for minutes together (once timed 5 minutes +, SA) with no move-
ment except an almost imperceptible spreading and narrowing of the tail
and tilting of wingtips, the bird often drifting backwards with the current.
In hovering flight body held horizontally, not tilted to wind as in Lesser
Kestrel, q.v. In the breeding season pairs engage in spectacular aerial dis-
play around their nesting cliffs, stooping and darting at each other, zooming
upward with the wind currents and eddies, and hovering prettily on vibrating
wings (quite distinct from normal hovering) to the accompaniment of a
shrill Ai-H-ii or tit . . . wee.
wood . Chiefly insects, frogs, Ezards, small rodents, and rarely nestlings
or small birds. Specifically recorded: locusts, grasshoppers, mde^ricfcets
FALCONS 367
{Gryllotdpa), beetles (Coleoptera), winged termites. Above free*line in Garh-
wal (c. 4500 m. ah.) mainly a single grasshopper {Amptygus ftp.) and a Kzard
(Lamia sp.}, Birds: crag martin (Hirmdo rufiestm), warbler (Seotymca
inquiet a), painted bush quail (Cotumix erythmkjmcha) and lark (sp.?)vMaro*
mals: field mice, voles (Microtus spp.),
voice and calls. As above. No others recorded in India.
breeding. Season, in the W. Himalayas April to June. Nest, of , twigs,
roots, rags, and rubbish placed in a hole or crevice, or on the ledge of an
inaccessible cliff; rarely in the wall of a ruined building. Occasionally a
disused nest, e.g. of magpie or crow, utilized. Eggs , 3 to 6, oval, pale pinkish
or yellowish stone-colour, profusely speckled and blotched with various
shades of red. Average size of 100 British eggs 39*73 X 31*77 mm.
(Witherby). Baker gives for 68 eggs (apparently this race and interstinctus
mixed) 39-3 X 31*6 mm. Eggs laid at least at two-day intervals, some-
times three and even four; incubation period 27-29 days (Witherby).
Both sexes incubate, but chiefly female.
Museum Diagnosis. Differs from Lesser Kestrel in wing formula (see diagram
under 221). Brick-red mantle of male spotted with black. Claws black in both sexes
». pale yellow. For details of plumages see Witherby 1939, 3 ; 28-31 ; Baker, loc. cit.
measurements of nominate European birds:
Wing Bill Tarsus Tail
(from cere)
230-252 13-15 37-41 150-173 mm.
9 9 235-267 — — — mm.
(Witherby)
Of Indian specimens including breeding birds from W. Himalayas:
(from skull)
23 <J*c7* 231-258 19-22 36-46 154-175 mm.
17 9 9 241-270 20-22 36-43 158-183 mm.
(SA, HW)
colours of bare parts. Iris brown. Bill slaty blue, black at tip, yellow at gape
and base; cere and orbital skin yellow. Legs and feet yellow to orange-yellow;
claws black.
223. East Himalayan Kestrel. Falco tinrumculus interstinctus McClelland
Fake interstinctus McClelland, 1840 (1839), Proc. zool. Soc. London, pt. 7: 154
(Assam)
Falco timunculus japonensis Tlcehurst, 1929, Bull. Brit. Om. Cl., 50:10 (New name
for Falco tinmmculusjaponicus Temminck & Schlegel, 1844 in Sieboid, Fauna Jap.,
Aves, 2, pi. 1 and IB (Japan) nee Falco japonicus Gmelin)
Baker, FBI No. 1741, Vol. 5; 62
Plata 12, fig. 5, feeing p. 224
LOCAL names. As for 222.
m& r Same as the European Kestrel.
held characters* Indistinguishable from European Kestrel with cer-
tainty in winter when their ranges overlap. See Museum Diagnosis.
368 FALGONIFORMES
status, distribution and habitat. Status uncertain. No evidence of
breeding in Eastern Himalayas as yet Breeding birds from NW. Himalayas,
assigned by Baker as interstinctus ( Nidijkation , 4:41), shown by Ticehurst
(Ibis 19S£3 : 262) and Whistler (JBNHS 38: 420-1) not to differ from nomi-
nate race. Therefore, as presently known, only a winter visitor to the Eastern
Himalayas (west at least to Nepal) ; Assam, Manipur, E* Pakistan (Sylhct,
Ghittagong), eastern India (Orissa), S. India (Coimbatore, Kerala). Also
to Ceylon, and Andaman Islands (Biswas). But dispersal and numerical
status imperfectly known due to great variability in the species, difficulty
of discrimination and wide overlapping of the races in winter.
ExtraUmital . Breeds in Japan, NE. China, SE. Tibet, east Central Asia
and Szechuan. Winters in India, Burma, (Indochinese countries?), SE.
China.
GENERAL HABITS, FOOD, VOICE. As in 222.
breeding. ExtraUmital. Nest, eggs, etc. as in nominate race.
Museum Diagnosis. Differs from the nominate race in both sexes being more
heavily barred above. Also has a bright foxy red phase not found in F. U tinnunculus .
measurements. The range covers that of the nominate race. Three recent sped*
mens from Nepal and Sikkim
measure:
Wing
Bill
Tarsus
Tail
(from skull)
2 tfc?
235-252
20-21
—
153-169 nun.
I 9
260
22
41
179 mm.
(BB, SA)
COLOUR* OF
BARE PARTS.
As in 222.
224. Indian Kestrel. Falco tinnunculus objurgatus (Baker)
Cercfawis tinnunculus objurgatus Baker, 1927, Bull. Brit. Orn. Cl., 47:106
(Ootacamund, Nilgiris, S. India)
Baker, FBI No. 1744, Vol. 5:65
LOCAL names. As for 222.
size. European Kestrel ±.
field characters. Like the European Kestrel (222) but slightly smaller.
Both sexes more brightly and richly coloured generally, with very rufous
underparts. Not always distinguishable from other races. See Museum
Diagnosis.
status, distribution and habitat. Breeds in the Western Ghats complex
from Khandesh south to Kanyakumari, including the Nilgiri, Palni, and
associated hills; the Shevaroy Hills and possibly other portions of the Eastern
Ghats. Breeds also in Ceylon (hills of the Central Province). Winter dispersal
not properly known.
GENERAL HABITS, FOOD, VOICE, etc. M in 222.
breeding. Season, January to March in the peninsular hills (c. 1200-
2500 m.) ; March to June in Ceylon (c. 1000-1440 m,). Nest, A sketchy pad
of straw, etc. in a cleft or hole in a precipitous cliff, usually inaccessible.
Eggs, 3 to 6, indistinguishable from those of the nominate race, q.v.
Average size c * 38 X 30 mm. (Baker).
FALCONS 369
Museum Diagnosis. Adult <J differs from the nominate race in the upperparts
being a deeper more foxy brick-red, lacking the characteristic faint grey wash or
bloom. Top of head duller, darker grey, or even streaked rufous-brown as in 9 -
Grey tail usually faintly barred. Underparts well tinged with rufous, the marking*
on central flanks of a somewhat different character. Adult 9 richer brick-red
above, heavily barred. Underparts differ from nominate race in same way as in d *
MEASUREMENTS.
Wing Bill Tail
(from skull)
16 <?cP 221-242 r. 21-22 145-163 mm.
17 9 9 234-258 c. 22-23 145-175 mm.
(SA, HW)
COLOURS OF BARE PARIS. As in 222.
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The Handbook of British Birds. 5 vols. H. F. & G. Witherby, London.
INDEX
Abdulali, Wumayun, xxiv
Accipiter, 232
Accipitridae, 210
acuta (Anas), 149
Aegypius, 298
aequinoctialis (Procellaria), JO
aeruginosus (Circus, Falco), 324
aethereus see indicus (Phaethon)
acthiopicus (Tantalus), 110
aftinis (Accipiter), 247
Aix, 188
alba (Ardea, Egretta), 68
albdlus (Mergus), 201
albcola (Anas), 198
albicilla (Falco, Haliacctus), 286
albidulus (Butorides), 62
albidus (Falco), 331
albifrons (Anser, Branta), 126
albogularis (Anas, Mareca), 155
aldabrensis (Frcgata), 47
Ali, Silim, xx, xxiv
altaicus (Gypactus), 314
amuremis (Erythropus, Falco), 361
Anas, 145
Anastomus, 95
Anatidae, 122
andamanensis (Spizaetus), 265
andrewsi (Frcgata), 47
angustirostris (Anas), 147
Anhinga, 43
anhinga (Plotus), 43
Anser, 125
anser see rubrirostris (Anser)
anser (Anas), 125
apivorus (Falco), 221
Aquila, 272
aquilus (Pclecanus), 47
arctica see suschkini (Gavia)
arcuata (Anas), 138
Ardca, 52
Ardeidae, 49
Ardcola, 62
arid see iredalei (Frcgata)
Aristonetta, 179
Asarcomis, 193
asha (Ardca), 74
asiatica (Mycteria), 104
asiaticus (Xenorhynchus), 104
A&tur, 232
aterrima (Bulweria, Procellaria), 15
aureus (Gypactus, Vultur), 314
auricularis (Vultur), 296
attrita (Anas), 1:90
australis (Mycteria), 104
Avxceda, 214
Aythya, 179
babylonicus (Falco), 349
bacchus (Ardeola, Buphus), 65
badius (Accipiter, Falco), 237
baeri [Anas (FuHgula), Aythya], 184
bailloni (Procellaria), 13
barbatus see aureus (Gypactus, Vultur)
Bates, R. S. P,, xx, xxiv
Baza, 214
bengalensis (Gyps, Vultur), 307
Bergmann’s Theory, xliv
bcmicla (Anas), 124
besra (Accipiter), 249
Betts, F. N., xxiv
bewickii (Cygnus), 134
bhabar, definition of, lv
biarmicus (Falco), 342
bicolor (Anas, Dcndrocygna), 139
bido (Falco), 329
Biswas, Biswamoy, xxiv
Blanford, W. T., xix, lii
Blyth, Edward, xvii
Bombay Natural History Society,
Journal of, xviii
boschas (Anas), 145
Botaurus, 89
boyciana (Ciconia), 102
brachyrhynchus (Anser), 126
Branta, 124
Briggs, F. S., xxiv
Bubulcus, 66
bubulcus (Ardea), 66
Bucephaia, 198
Bulweria, 15
bulwerii (Bulweria, Procellaria), 16
burmanicus (Buteo), 225
burmanicus (Spilornis), 333
Butastur, 256
Buteo, 251
buteo see burmanicus (Buteo)
buteo (Falco), 251
butleri (Accipiter, Astur), 238
Butorides, 59
caeruiescens (Anser), 133
caerulescens (Falco, Microhierax), 338
caeruleua see vociferus (El an us, Falco)
caeruleus (Falco), 212
caesius (Elan us), 212
Cairina, 193
calidus (Falco), 347
calvus (Torgos, Vultur), 296
candsduB (Ibis), 92
376
INDEX
capensis (Daption, Procellaria), 10
capensis (Bbdiceps), 6
carbo (Pelecanus), 37
Cameipcs (Proccllaria, PufRnus) , 11
caryophyllacea (Anas, Rhodonessa), 175
Casarca, 141
castor (Mergus), 200
cenchroides (Accipiter, Astur), 235
centralasiat (Falco, Hypotriorchis), 353
ceyloncnsil (Aviccda, Baza), 216
checla (Fajco, Spilomis), 329
chemig (Falco), 342
chicquera (Falco), 359
chloriceps {Ardea, Butoridcs), 59
chlororhymdia (Proccllaria), 12
chlororhynchus (Puffinus), 12 ;
christianiludovici (Falco), 358
chrysaetos (Falco), 272
chrysaetos see daphanca (Aquila)
Ciconia, 98
ciconia (Ardea, Ciconia), 99
Ciconiidac, 91
cinerea (Ardea), 54
cinnamomea (Ardea), 84
cinnamomeus (Ixobrychus), 84
Circaetus, 326
Circus, 316
cirrhatus (Limnaetops), 258
cirrhatus (Falco, Spizaetus), 262
clanga (Aquila), 279
Clangula, 196
clangula (Anas, Bucephala, Glauci-
onetta), 198
Classification: sequence of Orders and
Families, xxvii-xxx
clypeata (Anas), 172
columbarius (Falco), 357
columbianus (Cygnus), 134
concolor (Falco), 356
coromandclianus (Anas, Nettapus), 190
coromandus (Bubulcus, Gancroma), 66
crecca (Anas), 151
crispus (Pelecanus), 30
cristatus (Colymbus, Podiceps), 3
cuculoides (Aviccda), 214
cyanescens (Falco), 353
cyaneus (Circus, Falco), 317
Cygnus, 134
cygnus (Anas, Cygnus), 136
D’Abreu, E. A., xxiv
dactylatra see melanops (Sula)
daphanea (Aquila), 273
Daption, 9
Darwin, Charles, i
davisoni (Spilomis), 333
Dextdrocygna, 138
Dharmakuznamnhji, R. S., xxiv
didii (Butoridcs), 62
Dodsworth, P. T. L., xxiv
domestica (Anser), 125
Donald, C. xxiv
du£r, definition of, lv
dubia (Ardea), 105
dubius (Leptoptilos), 105
dun, definition of, lv
Dupetor, 88
dussumieri (Accipitcr, Falco), 2S5
Kates, K. R., xxiv
Egretta, 68
Elanus, 212
elgini (Haematomis, Spilomis), 333
episcopus (Ardea, Ciconia), 98
Erismatura, 208
erythropus (Anas, Anser), 128
fabalis (Anser), 125
falcata (Anas), 165
falcinellus (Plegadis, Tantalus), 114
Falco, 341
Falconidac, 338
fallax (Bulweria), 15
fasciata (Aquila), 266
fasciatus (Hieraaetus) , 266
Faunas, Differentiation of, xl
ferina (Anas, Aythya), 180
ferox (Accipiter), 327
ferruginea (Anas, Tadorna), 141
flavicollis (Ardea, Dupetor), 88
Fleming, R. L. (Sr), xxiv
fluvialis (Pandion), 335
Forest, types of, xlv; Tidal, xlv; Tropical
Thorn, xlvi
Formosa (Anas), 154
Fregata, 47
Fregatidac, 46
Fregctta, 20
fringillarius (Falco), 338
Fuligula, 179
fuligula (Anas, Aythya), 185
fulvescens (Gyps), 301
fulvus see fulvescens (Gyps)
fulvus (Vultur), 301
furcata (Proccllaria), 20
fuscicollls (Phalacrocorax), 39
galericulata (Aix, Anas), 189
gallicus (Circaetus, Falco), 327
Garthwaite, P« F., xxiv
garzetta (Ardea, Egretta), 72
Gavia, 1
Gaviidae, 1
gentilis (Falco), 232
gibber ifrons see albogularis (Anas,
Mareca) f
gmginianus (Neophron, Vultur), 312 .
INDEX
377
gladali* (Anas), 196^
Gloger’s Theory, xlm
goliath (Ardea), S3
Gdrsacbius, 80
goisagi (Nyctfcoraay, 80
govinda (Milvus), 227
grattdis (Gypactus) , 314
grayii (Ardea, Ardcola), 63
gularis see schistacea (Egretta)
gularis [Accipiter, Astur (Nisus)], 2 j0
Gypactus, 314
Gyps, 301
Haematornis, 329
Haliaeetus, 285
haliactus (Falco, Pandion), 336
Haliastur, 230 . .
hamiltoni see chlororhyncha (Procellana)
haringtoni (Anas, Polionctta), 159
Hartcrt, Ernst, lii
hatter ti (Falco), 347
hastata ( Aquila) ,281
hastatus (Morphnus), 281
hcliaca (Aquila), 274
hemachalanus (Gypaetus), 314
hemilasius (Buteo), 253
Hieraaetus, 265 „
Higgins, J. C., xxiv
himalaycnsis (Gyps) , 302
Hodgson, Brian, xvii
Hora, Sunder Lai, xlii , r
Hume, A. O., ‘ Father ’ or Pope of
Indian ornithology, xvm; founder and
editor of Stray Feathers, xvm ; his
collection and correspondents, xviii;
his first Indian checklist, lii
Hydrobatidae, 17
hyemalis (Anas, Clangula), 196
indicus (Riadhon), 22
Indobrahm System, xhu
indus (Falco, Hah*stur),230
infaustus (Nycticorax), 78
Inglia, Charles M.,xx, xxav
insignia (Aesalon, Falco), 357
insignia (Ardea), 53
intermedia (Ardea, Egretta), 71
interstinctus (Falco), 367
iredalei (Fregata), 49
Ixobrychus, 82
jakutensis (Hy potriorchis) , 352
jankowskii (Gy gnus), 135
japonensis see interstinctus (Falco)
japonensis (Falco), 347
japonicus (Falco), 367
javana (Icthyophaga), 292
javanica (Anas, Dendrocygna), 130
javanica (Ardea), 59
javanica (Ciconia), 107
javaniqus (Leptoptilos), 107
Tcrdon, T, C., xvii; his Birds of India , xvu
jerdoni (Aviceda, Pemis), 215
jheel, definition of, lv
Jones, A. E., xx, xxiv
jonesi (Gyps), 305
jouyi (Ardea), 55
jugger (Falco), 344
kashmiriensis (Accipiter), 246
kclaarti (Spizaetus), 260
kienerii (Astur, Lophotriorchis) , l /U
Kinncar, Sir Norman B., xx, xxiv
Kleinschmidt, Otto, 1
klossi (Spilornis), 335 #
Koelz, Walter, xxii, xxiv
Ibis, 92
ibis see coromandus (Bubulcus)
ibis (Ardea), 66
ibis (Tantalus), 92
Ibis, The, journal of the British Ornitho-
logists’ Union, xviii
ichthyaetus (Falco, Icthyophaga), 2 J2
Icthyophaga, 292
Ictinaetus, 283
immer (Colymbus), 1 ■ .
Indian ornithology, founders and pio-
neers of* xvii; principal work and
workers between the two World Wars,
xx ; regional bird surveys, xxi-xxiL
principal workers since completion of
the 2nd edition FBI, Birds, in 1930,
xiciv
indicus (Accipiter, Astur), 240
indicus (Adas, Anser), 131
indicus (Gyps, Vultur), 304
Law, Satya Chum, xxiv
layardi (Accipiter, Astur), 242
Leptoptilos, 105
lepturus (Phacthon), 24
leucocephala (Anas, Oxvura), 208
leucocephaius (Ibis, Tantalus), 93
leucogastcr see plotus (Pelecanus, Sula)
ieucogaster (Falco, Haliaeetus), 287
leucogastcr (Thalassidroma), 20
leucomelaena (Procellaria), 11
leucomclas (Procellaria), 11
leucophaea (Ardea), 35
leucorhoa see monorhis (Oceanodroma,
Thalassidroma)
leucorodia (Plaialca), 115
leucorypha (Aquila), 289
ieucoryphus (Haliaeetus), 289
leuphotes (Aviceda, Falco), 218
lherminieri see bailloni, pcrsica (Pro-
cellaria)
378
INDEX
limnaeetus (Falco, Spizaetus), 261
Limnaetops,258
lineatus (Haliaetus, Milvus), 229
Linnaeus, Carolus, xlix
Livesey, T. It.* xxiv
Loke, Wan Tho, xxi, xxiv
Lophotriorchis, 270
Lowther, E. H. N., xx, xxiv
Ludlow, Frank, xx
macrourus (Circus, Falco), 319
madagascariensis (Anas), 190
major (Platalca), 116
malayensis see perniger (Ictinaetus)
manilcnsia (Ardea), 57
marila (Anas, Aythya), 187
Mayr, Ernst, 1
measurements, standard method of
taking, xxxi
Meinertzhagen, R,, xxiv
melanocephala (Ardea), 80
melanocephala (Threskiornis), 110
melanocephalus (Tantalus), 110
melanogaster (Anhinga), 43
melanogaster (Fregetta, Thalassidroma),
20
melanoleucos (Circus, Falco), 323
melanolcucos (Icrax, Microhierax), 340
melanolopha (Ardea), 80
mclanolophus (Gorsachius), 80
melanops (Sula), 32
melanoris (Buteo, Spilornis), 331
melanotos (Anser, Sarkidiornis), 192
melaschistos (Accipiter), 245
merganser (Mergus), 203
Mergus, 200
Microhierax, 338
middendorffi (Anser), 125
migrans (Falco, Milvus), 226
Migration, presumptive overall pattern
of, xxxiv-xxxv ; bird ringing, xxxvi
milvipes (Falco), 344
Milvus, 224
milvus (Falco, Milvus), 225
minimus (Spilornis), 334
minor see aldabrensis (Fregata)
minor see jankowskii (Cygnus)
minor (Gorsachius), 82
minor (Phoeniconaias, Phoenicopterus) ,
121
minor (Spilornis), 331
nainuta (Ardea), 83
mmutus (Ixobrychus), 83
modesta (Ardea, Egretta), 69
mdh&lla, definition of, Iv
monachus (Aegypius, Vultur), 298
monorhis (Oceanodroma, Thalassi-
droma), 21
moschata (Anas), 193
nana see plumbea (Icthyopbaga)
naumanni see pekinensis (Falco)
neglectus see middendorffi (Anser)
Neophron, 310
Netta, 177
Nettapus, 190
niger (Hydrocorax, Phalacrocorax) , 4 1
niger (Vultur), 298
nigra (Ardea, Giconia), 102 ,
nigricollis (Podiceps), 5
nipalensis (Aquila, Circaetus), 278
nipalensis (Nisaetus, Spizaetus), 259
nisoides (Accipiter), 250
nisosimilis (Accipiter, Falco), 243
nisus (Accipiter), 243
nisus (Falco), 232
nisus (Haliaeetus), 285
Nomenclature, International Code of
Zoological, li; necessity of changes in,
liii
nudiceps (Gyps), 306
nullah, definition of, lv
Nycticorax, 78
nycticorax (Ardea, Nycticorax), 78
Nyroca, 179
nyroca (Anas, Aythya), 182
Oates, Eugene W,, xix, lii
objurgatus (Gerchneis, Falco), 368
obsoletus (Accipiter, Astur), 239
oceanica (Procellaria), 17
oceanicus (Oceanites), 17
Oceanites, 17
Oceanodroma, 20
olor (Anas, Cygnus), 137
onocrotalus (Pelecanus), 27
Oriental Region, xxxix; geological ori-
gins of, xl
orientalis (Mergus), 204
orientals (Pemis), 221
omatus (Falco), 258
oscitans (Anastomus, Ardea), 95
Osmaston, B. B., xx, xxiv
ovivorus (Ictinaetus), 283
Oxyura, 208
pacifica see chlororhyncha (Procellaria)
palumbarius (Falco), 232
Pandion, 335
papillosa (Ibis, Pseudibis), 112
parvus see oceanicus (Oceanites) foot-
note, 19
pekinensis (Falco), 363
Pelecanidae, 25
Pelecanus, 26
penelope (Anas), 167
peninsulae (Accipiter), 242
pennata (Falco), 265
pennatus (Falco, Hieraaetus), 268
INDEX
m
percnopterus (Neophron, Vultur), 310
peregrinator (Falco), 350
peregrinus (Falco), 347
perenopterus (tic) [Vultur], 310
pemiger (Ictinaetus), 283
|mugra|Aquila), 283
persica (Proccllaria), 14
persicus (Puifinus), 14
pertonata? see melanops (Sula)
Phacthon, 22
Phacthontidae, 21
Phalacrocoracidac, 35
Phalacrocorax, 37
philippensis (Pelecanus), 29
Phillips, W. W. A,, xx, xxiv
phillipsi (Ardeola), 65
Phoeniconais, 121
Phoenicopteridae, 118
Phocnicoptcrus, 118
piscator (Pelecanus), 31
planicola (Hypotriorchis), 353
Platalea, 115
platyrhynchoa (Anas), 160
Plegadis, 113
plotus (Pelecanus, Sula), 34
plumbea (Icthyophaga), 294
plumbeiceps (Icthyophaga), 294
plumbeus (Polioaetus), 294
Podiceps, 2
Podicipitidae, 2
poecilorhyncha (Anas), 157
potiopsis (Accipiter, Micronisus), 237
pomarina see hastata (Aquila)
pondicerianus (Haliastur), 230
ponticerianus (Vultur), 296
Proccllaria, 10
Procellariidae, 9
Proud, (Mrs) Desirdc, xxiv
Pseudibis, 112
Pseudogyps, 301
ptilorhynchus (Pernis), 221
purpurea see manilensis (Ardea)
pygargus (Circus, Falco), 321
pygmaeus (Pelecanus, Phalacrocorax),
42
querquedula (Anas), 169
Radiation, Geographical, xxxix
ralliodes (Ardea) , 62
rapax see vindhiana (Aquila)
Ray, J ohn, xlix
rectirostris (Ardea), 55
Rensch, Bernhard, 1
Rhodoncssa, 174
Ripley, S. DiHon, xxii, xxiv
roseus (Pelecanus), 29
roseus (PhoenicopteruS), 1 11
rossicus (Anser), 125
ruber (Phoenieoptenas), US
rubidus (Anas), 208
rubricauda (Phacthon), 24
rubripes (Sula), 33
rubrirostris (Anser), 129
rufa see melanogaster (Anhinga)
rufa (Nyroca), 182
ruficollis see capcnsis (Podiceps)
ruficollis (Anser, Branta), 124
ruficollis (Pernis), 222
rufina (Anas, Netta), 177
rufinus (Buteo, Falco), 252
rufipedoides (Falco), 355
rufitinctus see indicus (Accipiter, Astur)
rutila (Anas), 141
sacra (Ardea, Egretta), 77
Sarcogyps, 296
Sarkidiomis, 192
Satpura Hypothesis (of zoogeographical
distribution). The, xlii
schistacea [Ardea (Lepterodas), Egretta],
74
schvedowi (Accipiter, Astur), 233
scutulata (Anas, Cairina), 194
serrator (Mergus), 206
severus (Falco), 356
shola, definition of, lv
sibiricus see raiddendorffi (Anser)
sinensis (Ardea, Ixobrychus), 86
sinensis (Pelecanus, Phalacrocorax), 37
Smith, H. C., xxiv
Smythics, B. E., xxiv
socorroensis see monorhis (Oceano-
droma) in text, 21
soloensis (Accipiter, Falco), 239
Species and subspecies, concept of origin
of, 1; limitation of, xxxix; extinction
of, liv
spilogaster (Haematornis, Spilomis), 332
spilonotus (Circus), 326
Spilomis, 329
Spizaetus, 258
spodiogaster (Butorides), 61
sponsa (Anas), 188
Stanford, J. K., xxiv
stellaris (Ardea, Botaurus), 89
stellata (Gavia), 2
Stray Feathers , a journal of ornithology
for India and dependencies, xviii
strepera (Anas), 163
striatus see albidulus, chloriceps, didii,
spodiogaster (Butorides)
Stuart Baker, E. G., lii; his' New Fauna %
xix. xxiv *
subbuteo (Falco), 352
' Sula, 31
INDEX
380
sula see rubripes (Sula)
Sulidae, 31
saschkini (Gavia, Urinator), 1
syama (Aviccda, Baza), 220
System naturae, xlix
Tadoma, 141
tadoma (Anas, Tadoma), 144
tecsa (Butastur, Circus), 257
tenuirostris (Gyps), 306
tenuirostris (Procellaria), 13
terii, definition of, lv
Threskiomis, 110
Threskiornithidae, 109
Ticehurst, Claud B., xx, xxiv
tinnunculus (Falco), 365
Torgos, 296
tracheliotus (Vultur), 296
trivirgatus (Accipiter), 240
tropica see mejanogaster (Fregetta,
Thalassidroma)
ussuriensis (Falco), 347
vespertinus see atmtrensis (Falco) 4
vindhiana (Aquila), 276
virgatus (Accipiter), 246
vociferus (Elanus, Falco), 212
vulgaris (Gyps), 301
vulpinus (Buteo, Falco), 254
Waite, H. W., xxiv
Whistler, Hugh, xx, xxiv
wilsonii (Procellaria), 17
Xenorhynchus, 104
Zonation, xxxix
zonorhyncha (Anas), 159